Afghan girls protest, demand Taliban to reopen schools
STORY: Dozens of female students and teachers marched in front of the education ministry in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday.
The women held signs that read 'education is our right' against the Taliban's decision to shut girl's secondary schools, just hours after reopening them earlier in the week.
One student in the crowd, Fatema expressed her sadness at the U-turn decision.
“Unfortunately because of the Taliban all our schools were closed, we girls are allowed to study same as boys, Islam has given us this right, but the Taliban has taken this right from us."
The Taliban's decision backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to girls.
And after that decision the United States abruptly canceled meetings with the Taliban in Doha that were set to address key economic issues on Friday.
Sources told Reuters that the talks were to include discussing hundreds of millions of dollars of funding currently held in a World Bank Trust Fund that is earmarked for Afghanistan's education sector.
At the Doha forum, activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai had this message for the Taliban:
"I would just say one thing to the Taliban (Speaks in Arabic) Seeking education is a duty of every Muslim."
"I believe in peace talks, I believe in dialogue, but I also feel that at the same time, they should not be recognised if they do not recognise the human rights of women and girls.”
The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan said on Saturday he was hopeful that there will be a reversal of the Taliban's decision in coming days.
