SO MUCH FOR PROGRESS

Taliban Blocks Secondary Education for Girls in Last-Minute Reversal

Secondary schools for girls were ordered to shut down just hours after the new school year began.

The Taliban has blocked girls in Afghanistan from attending classes above sixth grade just hours after the new school year began, reneging on its earlier promises to allow girls a role in higher education. After the education ministry this week said “all students” would be returning to the classroom, the decision was abruptly reversed Wednesday, an official for the new hardline leadership confirmed. “The leadership hasn’t decided when or how they will allow girls to return to school,” Waheedullah Hashmi, external relations and donor representative with the Taliban-led leadership, was quoted saying by the AP. Agence France-Presse had a news crew filming at a secondary school in Kabul when a teacher notified the female students they would have to go home. The news agency reports that students were seen in tears as they gathered their belongings and filed out of the classroom.