The Taliban “do not see women as human beings,” says Malala in Pakistan

Malala Yousafzai called on Muslim leaders to confront the Taliban government in Afghanistan and its repressive policies against girls and women.

“Simply put, the Afghan Taliban do not see women as human beings,” she said at an international summit hosted by Pakistan on girls’ education in Islamic countries.

Ms Yousafzai told Muslim leaders there was “nothing Islamic” about the Taliban’s policies, which include banning women’s education and preventing women from working.

The 27-year-old was evacuated from Pakistan at the age of 15 after being shot in the head by a Pakistani Taliban gunman for speaking out about girls’ education.

Speaking at a conference in Islamabad on Sunday, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said he was “overwhelmed and happy” to be back in his home country. He has rarely returned to Pakistan since the 2012 attack He made his first round in 2018.

On Sunday, the Taliban said the government had created a “system of gender apartheid”.

The Taliban were “punishing women and girls who dare to break their dark laws by beating, arresting and harming them”.

He added that the group “covers its crimes with cultural and religious justification” but that they actually “go against everything our faith stands for”.

The Taliban declined to respond to the BBC’s request for comment on the lawyer’s remarks. They have previously said they respect women’s rights based on their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law.

The group’s leaders were invited to the summit hosted by the Pakistani government and the Muslim World League, but did not attend.

The conference was attended by dozens of ministers and scholars from Muslim-majority countries in support of girls’ education.

Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, its government has not been formally recognized by a single foreign government. Western powers have said the group’s policies that restrict women must be changed.

Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where women and girls are banned from secondary and higher education – one and a half million have been deliberately excluded from school.

The Taliban have repeatedly promised to re-admit the school once a number of issues are resolved, including ensuring the curriculum was “Islamic”. This has yet to happen.

In December, women were also banned from training as midwives and nurses, closing the country’s last avenue of education.

Ms. Yousafzai said girls’ education was under threat in many countries. In Gaza he said Israel had “decimated the entire education system”.

He asked those present to “call out the worst violations” of girls’ right to education, and he pointed out that the crises in countries like Afghanistan, Yemen and Sudan have “stole the entire future of girls”.