Malala Yousafzai Meets With Blinken, Calls On U.S. To Support Afghan Women And Girls

Malala Yousafzai, an activist for women’s education and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, telling the United States to work to support the education and working abilities of Afghan women and girls after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. 

As reported by CNN: “Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for women’s equality who survived a Taliban assassination attempt, said she came to the State Department ‘to talk about equality in girls’ education.’”

Before the private meeting, Yousafzai said that “Afghanistan right now is the only country where girls do not have access to secondary education.” 

“They are prohibited from learning, and I have been working together with Afghan girls and women’s activists, and there is this one message from them: that they should be given the right to work. They should be able to go to school,” she said. 

She also read from a letter a 15-year-old Afghan girl had written to President Joe Biden. 

“She writes that the longer schools and universities remain closed to girls, the more it will shade hope for our future phase. Girls’ education is a powerful tool for bringing peace and security. If girls don’t learn, Afghanistan will suffer, too,” Yousafzai said. 

“So this is the message of Afghan girls right now, and we want to see a world where all girls can have access to safe and quality education, and we hope that the U.S. together with the U.N. [United Nations] will take immediate actions to ensure that girls are allowed to go back to their schools as soon as possible, women are able to go back to work and all the humanitarian assistance that is needed for education there is provided,” Yousafzai said.

As reported by CBS News, the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan recently put forward a “special decree” detailing the rights of women under their rule, but many said it was not nearly enough.

CBS reported, “The decree, attributed to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, bans child marriage and states that ‘no one can force a woman to marry by coercion or pressure.’” 

The Taliban’s Friday declaration said, “A woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange of for peace deal or to end animosity.”

The outlet added: 

Tomas West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, welcomed the decree allowing women to determine who they marry, but said “much more is needed to ensure women’s rights in every aspect of Afghan society including schools, workplaces, politics and media.”

Many have pointed to the act as an effort to appear acceptable to the international community but is something that does little to advance women’s rights in the country. 

In August, the Taliban announced amnesty across the country in a move that was also likely an attempt to appear as a modern force instead of the brutal insurgents the world has watched wreak havoc on the region for the past several decades. 

As reported by The Associated Press, “The promises of amnesty from Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, were the first comments on how the Taliban might govern on a national level. His remarks remained vague, however, as the Taliban are still negotiating with political leaders of the country’s fallen government and no formal handover deal has been announced.”

Samangani spoke about the worries of women, noting that they were “the main victims of the more than 40 years of crisis in Afghanistan.” 

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to provide women with environment to work and study, and the presence of women in different (government) structures according to Islamic law and in accordance with our cultural values,” he said at the time.

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