Taliban ‘do not see women as human’, says Malala in Pakistan

Malala Yousafzai has urged Muslim leaders to oppose the Taliban government in Afghanistan and its repressive policies against girls and women.

“In short, the Taliban in Afghanistan do not see women as human beings,” he said at an international conference organized by Pakistan on girls’ education in Muslim countries.

Ms Yousafzai told Muslim leaders there was “no Islam” in the Taliban’s policies, which include banning women’s education and banning women from working.

The 27-year-old was deported to Pakistan at the age of 15 after being shot in the head by a Pakistani Taliban fighter who targeted her for speaking out about girls’ education.

Speaking at a conference in Islamabad on Sunday, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said he was “scared and happy” to return home. He has only returned to Pakistan a few times since the 2012 invasion, after all making his first comeback in 2018.

On Sunday, he said the Taliban government has also implemented a “system of gender discrimination”.

The Taliban were “punishing women and girls who would try to violate their anonymity by beating, imprisoning and injuring them,” he said.

He added that the group “hides their wrongdoings in terms of culture and religion” but in reality it “goes against everything our faith stands for”.

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

The group’s leaders were invited to a meeting held by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) with the government of Pakistan and the Muslim World League, but they did not attend.

The meeting was attended by many ministers and experts from Muslim-majority countries who promote girls’ education.

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, their government has not been officially recognized by a single foreign government. European countries have said that the group’s policies against women need to change.

Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where women and girls are denied secondary and higher education – about one and a half million have been left out of school.

The Taliban have repeatedly promised that they will be allowed back into schools once a number of issues are resolved – including ensuring that education is “Islamic”. This has not happened yet.

In December, women were also banned from training for midwives and nurses, closing their last route to higher education in the country.

Ms. Yousafzai said girls’ education is at risk in several countries. He said that in Gaza, Israel has “destroyed all education”.

He urged those present to “call out the worst violations” of girls’ right to education and said that the problems in countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Sudan meant that “the whole future of girls has been stolen”.