The former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, called Sunday for the Taliban regime to allow education for girls and women. Posting on X to commemorate the 105th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence, Karzai urged the people of the nation to collaborate in order to learn and progress.

Since their takeover in 2021, the Taliban have been repeatedly criticised for their policies towards women. The systematic exclusion of and restrictive public policy toward women, such as mandating the burqa, only moving outside when with a close male relative, limiting avenues of employment etc, has been termed by UN as “gender apartheid”. As per Human Rights Watch, the Taliban regime has committed crimes against humanity through its wrongful deeds against women and is responsible for an extremely grave crisis in the matter of women’s rights.

Part of this crisis has included a ban on education, in both primary schools as well as institutions of higher education, for females. Not only is there a ban on enrolling, but pre-existing female students have also been forced out since the Taliban came to power. As per UNESCO, 1.4 million girls are still banned from education, and salaries of female employees have been reduced in order to discourage them from seeking employment.

Karzai, who was the president until 2014, has called for education to be allowed for all on previous stances, including showing his support for the UN Security Council’s decision to send a special envoy of peace to Afghanistan.