The findings of a research report show that the daughters of some of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are studying in foreign countries, but the same Taliban have closed secondary and high schools for girls in Afghanistan.
The daughters of some Taliban leaders are pursuing higher education at universities in Qatar and Pakistan, according to a report in Britain’s Daily Mail by the Afghanistan Analysts Network.
The majority of Qatar-based Taliban leaders have enrolled their daughters in schools and universities, the report said. The daughter of acting Taliban minister in Afghanistan is studying medical at Qatari university, reports said, the Talib leader was also a member of the Taliban’s leadership room.
Members of the Afghan Analysts Network say they have spoken to 30 people, including nine Taliban leaders, about the report.
A member of the Taliban’s negotiating team in Qatar told the network that one of the daughters had graduated from a Qatari government school and the other was now attending school. He said that in the first three years his children did not go to school but then at their request he enrolled three sons and two daughters in school.
Other daughters of some Taliban leaders are reportedly attending schools in Pakistan that teach in English. A Taliban leader in Qatar told the Afghan Analysts Network that the Taliban and their families are interested in modern science and had no objection to girls’ education.
Some members of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, who are now in Kabul, told the network that their families are still in Qatar so that their children’s education would not be disrupted.
The report also said that some Taliban leaders have secretly enrolled their daughters in schools and universities in Afghanistan, while others have private schools and madrassas in Pakistan where girls are taught.
The report comes just six months after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. The Taliban have not openly opposed the admission of girls to universities, but their government’s higher education minister has said they should be separated from the girls’ class.
Also Secondary and high schools for girls are still closed in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid recently said that schools across Afghanistan would be opened to girls at the beginning of the new year.
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