A group of women took to the streets of Kabul on Oct. 26 to protest the continued barring of girls from schools since the Taliban takeover, and accused the international community of being silent about what is going on in Afghanistan. The women gathered at the gates of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA [4]), demanding an audience with the agency's head Deborah Lyons and calling UNAMA's silence on the situation for women and girls in the country "shameful." The women chanted "Right to education, right to work, are fundamental rights of women" and "History will be ashamed of the silence of the UN." (Khaama [5])
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, teenage girls were ordered to stay home from school [7] until a "safe learning environment" could be established. But boys in all grades and girls of primary-school age were told to return to classes. The Taliban's new Ministry of Interior Affairs said last week that girls will be allowed to return to secondary schools soon, but did not set a date. (Al Jazeera [8])
In the continuing protests [9] since the Taliban seizure of power, women have been in the vanguard.
