Sher Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for politics, fled Afghanistan after publicly blasting the restrictions for girls and women being educated. In January, Stanekzai implored other Taliban leaders to allow for the implementation of educational facilities for females, arguing that such a restriction was fundamentally against the Sharia law. He noted that denying girls an education was immoral and was devoid of any religious rationale.
Stanekzai’s comments were an exceptional case of infighting within the Taliban leadership. Indeed, the Taliban has firmly placed restrictions on a woman’s right to education and has barred girls and women from schooling past the sixth grade. This restriction has lasted for over three years now, no matter the global backlash and boycotts.
After Stanekzai’s open declaration, he was placed under arrest by the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and barred from traveling. He, however, had already traveled to the United Arab Emirates due to health issues. This is certainly not the first time Stanekzai has come out in support of the restriction of education for women, as he has claimed that schools and colleges are a necessity for men and, equally, women too.
The episode interprets breach within the Taliban leadership, showing reports of disunity within the two predominant centers of power in Kabul and Kandahar. The United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has also highlighted disputes within the Taliban leadership and their differences over the education ban.
