The Taliban’s Onslaught on Female Literacy in Afghanistan and its Impact

Zabiullah Mujahid has been an articulate spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate and Taliban Emir Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, explaining their positions to the world with great finesse.[i] “All Afghans will have their rights secured under the future government and women shall also have the right of work and education in an Islamic framework.” Since girls’ education is a divine command in Islam—with the Holy Quran leaving no doubt whatsoever that women, like men, are obligated to increase their knowledge and pursue it—the Taliban was expected to adhere to their promise.[ii] This is despite their track record of violating this millennia old Islamic tradition during their first rule from 1996 to 2001.[iii] But the Taliban reneged on their commitment, sticking to their traditional age-old stand of issuing anti-education edicts for girls above six.

2025 marks four years since the start of the ban on girls’ secondary education in Afghanistan, and this regressive decision continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls. If this restriction persists until 2030, more than four million girls will be deprived of their right to education beyond the primary level. UNICEF warns of catastrophic consequences, starting from a negative impact on the healthcare system and the economy of Afghanistan as a whole.[iv] UNICEF predicts that Afghanistan will experience a severe shortage of qualified female health workers if this marginalization of girls within the educational system continues, putting the entire health infrastructure in disarray. With fewer female doctors and midwives, women will be deprived of medical treatment and necessary para-medical support. “We are estimating an additional 1,600 maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths. These are not just numbers, but they represent lives lost and families shattered”—Executive Director of UNICEF Catherine Russell said. Indeed, the repercussions will last for generations as Afghanistan leaves half of its population behind.

Importantly, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with adverse effects on their well-being and health. A UN Women report asserted that the cumulative effect of the Taliban’s edicts has largely resulted in the imprisonment of women within the walls of their homes.[v]

History of women’s education in Afghanistan

Historically, the Afghan leadership endeavoured to empower women through literacy, except for three distinct phases of a blanket ban. Since the early 20th century, girls’ education in Afghanistan, despite its significant progress, remained deeply contested, with three regimes even enforcing gender exclusion—first, under Amir Habibullah Kalakani’s reign in 1929 and twice during the Taliban’s rule, from 1996-2001, and again since August 2021.[vi] During the Mujahideen era (1992–1996), access to education was hindered because of the civil war and restrictions imposed on women.

Ever since its foundations were laid down in 1875, education in Afghanistan has almost exclusively been confined to the capital, Kabul. Till 1919, there were only four schools when King Amanullah Khan made primary education universal and compulsory for the first time. Thereafter, he created schools for girls and even sent some female students to Turkey on exchange programmes.[vii] Despite these achievements, Afghanistan’s conservative socio-cultural and patriarchal traditions, a weak central state and fratricidal ethnic conflicts intermittently hampered women’s access to education throughout the 20^th century.

Nevertheless, from 1930 to 1960, women’s education made steady progress, especially in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, before facing a radical setback in the 1990s post-Cold War era. Before the Taliban’s first ascendancy to power in 1991, Afghanistan boasted a co-educational school system with no less than 7,000 women pursuing higher education and at least 230,000 girls enrolled in schools.[viii] There were 190 female university professors along with 22,000 women working as teachers in various schools. Moreover, women also constituted half of the country’s public servants and 40 percent of its total medical professional workforce. The situation deteriorated rapidly since 2021 and Afghanistan ranked last in the 2023-2024 Women, Peace and Security Index published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in collaboration with Oslo’s Peace Research Institute.[ix]

For Afghan women, peace is more than just stopping decades of conflict—it is a dynamic concept which can usher in societal change through the relinquishment of conservatism. “My daughter and granddaughter should enjoy everything that was prohibited for our generation—they deserve more than the basic rights,” former Bamiyan Province Governor and Minister of Women’s Affairs, Culture and Education Dr. Habiba Sarabi explained in 2020.[x] Afghanistan witnessed an exodus of a vast number of professionals instead, after the Taliban took over the country in 2021. It caused significant brain drain.[xi] The last thing that the war-ravaged nation needed was jeopardising a wholesome recovery by preventing half the population from participating in education.

The importance of girls’ education

After the Taliban’s ouster in 2001, when the ban on girls’ education was lifted, the World Bank commissioned a study to analyse the economic benefits of this decision. Data from the Labour Force and Household Surveys conducted in Afghanistan in 2007, 2014 and 2020 formed the basis of that analysis.[xii] It was discovered that with the expansion of educational opportunities at all levels in post-Taliban Afghanistan, the infant mortality rate declined by half, while the gross national income per capita tripled from US $810 in 2001 to $2,590 in 2020. A great part of the country’s economic progress during this period was attributed to women.

Although the average return on investment in education remains low in Afghanistan, for women it is fairly high. Every additional year of schooling a woman participates in increases it by 13 percent, placing it much higher than the global average of 9 percent of return on investment in education.

Since education is a key driver of financial stability, lack of access to it only perpetuates generational poverty. A UNESCO policy paper revealed that 420 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all adults completed secondary education, and an additional 60 million would escape poverty if adults gained just two more years of schooling worldwide.[xiii] Since more than half of Afghanistan’s population lives in poverty, denying girls access to education further worsens the crisis.

A 2017 study conducted by the Afghanistan Central Statistics Organization found that 28 percent of Afghan girls were forced into a marriage before turning 18, with 4 percent among them being married off before age 15. The impact of the Taliban’s policy on society at large is best reflected in the findings of research conducted by a local digital platform, Bishnaw-Wawra, which interviewed over 3,000 young women. They revealed that by August 2023, 70 percent of them were aware of girls being forced into marriage before adulthood. According to UNICEF’s analysis, keeping girls out of secondary school costs Afghanistan 2.5 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which essentially means the national economy could get a boost of approximately US $5.4 billion if all three million Afghan girls completed secondary education and entered the workforce.[xiv] Thus equal educational opportunities for women transcends the domain of justice and equality, consolidating sustainable development and upholding Afghanistan’s economic potential.

The ban on education

Afghan women were already playing a vital role in society—from the household to their community, but to varying degrees—when the Taliban took over in 2021. They even participated in the peace negotiations and expressed concern at the US ignoring their suggestions while negotiating with the Taliban. “Women’s inclusion has only been limited to a number of 30 minutes consultations”—lamented Afghanistan’s High Peace Council Member Wazma Frogh in 2019.[xv] The women’s group were extremely concerned about those behind-the-scenes negotiations, which to them were not transparent.

The Taliban could not shed its regressive mindset on the issue of women’s education, jobs and their participation in nation-building. They pushed Afghanistan to a situation whereby the country’s GDP was a mere $17.25 billion in 2023 while real growth stayed at 2.3 percent.[xvi] The economic costs supplemented by the wider social costs associated with lower levels of education for women will be catastrophic for the country as well as the region in the long term. The Taliban’s dogmatic approach to the issue of women’s education is driven by three primary factors derived from conservatism and political expediency. Firstly, the Taliban believes Afghanistan’s present curriculum is antithetical to Islamic principles and does not align with Afghan culture. To them, modern education is nothing but a tool to promote western culture and values. Secondly, through this ban the Taliban seeks to demonstrate who is in real control in Afghanistan and leverage it for obtaining diplomatic recognition from the international community. Lastly, an influential ideologically conservative circle offering moral support to the Taliban wants women to be restricted within the household.

The only silver lining is, recognising the ban’s devastating effects on the nation’s overall well-being, a sizable majority of Afghans are now refusing to accept this diktat. Can the world nudge the Taliban closer to yield?