Taliban continues its War on Women in education

With out-of-control inflation, rising rent prices, and teetering economy, the Biden administration has its hands full when it comes to crisis management. But, one of its recent foreign policy decisions continues to spiral out-of-control, which is the abandonment of Afghanistan and women’s rights to the Taliban.

The Associated Press reported that the Taliban, the fundamentalist and radical Islamic government of Afghanistan, shut down schools for girls above the sixth grade in the eastern province of Paktia. The schools were permitted to open, after local tribal elders and school principals recommended the move, but they have been officially closed again.

Meaning, the Taliban shut off access for a middle-school and high-school education for children ages 11 or 12.

Five other schools, which had opened without the permission from the Taliban Education Ministry, were also closed by the Taliban.

The Associated Press reported that “dozens of tearful former students — some in head-to-toe burqas, others in school uniforms and white vails – protested” in one of the cities where a school was closed. The Taliban Education Ministry did not provide comment to the press about the protests or school closings.

Despite the Biden administration’s claims of how it supports women’s rights in the U.S. and abroad, the events in Afghanistan make their claims appear hypocritical. The Left often blasts the political Right for creating a “war on women” when it comes to abortion issues, but it remains eerily silent when Afghan women are denied basic freedoms such as education.

Education is not the only problem facing Afghans because the Taliban is struggling to gain international recognition, and therefore is lacking in foreign aid. These struggles have led to food shortages and economic hardships, of which Afghan women likely bear the brunt.

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