HERAT, Afghanistan — Girls wearing white hijabs and black tunics crammed into classrooms in the western Afghan city of Herat just days after the Taliban’s takeover. Women and girls walked more freely in the streets, attending schools and colleges in huge numbers in a city famed for its poetry and arts. Under the hardline version of sharia law that the Taliban imposed when they controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s, women and girls were mostly denied education and employment. However, during an interview with Britain’s Sky News this week, another Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen offered assurances on the topic. In Herat, school principal Basira Basiratkha expressed cautious optimism, saying she was “grateful to God” that they have been able to reopen.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 18, 2021 09:00 UTC