Resilient Dreams: Afghan Women and the Taliban’s War on Education

• Ali Khan
• Oct 4, 2024
• 3 min read

“I like being in my imaginary world I have created for myself. There, I am safe, and I can do whatever I want,” said one female student from Takhar province who told USIP she was using synthetic drugs. “You are probably going to laugh at me, but in that world, I am going to graduate next year and become a pilot.”

These words sum up the sad fate of millions of Afghan women living under the Taliban regime. The Taliban coming back to power in 2021 saw the rapid deterioration of progress made in the last two decades, especially in women’s education. Schools were closed; women were prohibited from attending universities; female teachers were muzzled. Where there used to be hope for a new generation of educated Afghan women, there is now only grief. Since their takeover in 2021, the Taliban have issued at least 70 decrees that have directly impacted the rights of women and other minorities. Taliban first banned girls from secondary schools in March 2022, followed by a ban on attending Universities later in December of the same year. By January 2023, this oppressive grip tightened further, implementing a ban on women taking university entrance exams.

These policies have caused devastating impacts. According to a UN report, by 2026, the effect of leaving 1.1 million girls out of school and over 100,000 women out of university is correlated with an increase in the rate of early childbearing by 45 percent and an increased risk of maternal mortality by at least 50 percent. These policies are not only intrusive and oppressive in that they keep women out of school; they actively wipe out their futures.

Education is one of the key factors on the basis of which any nation must build its future. Afghanistan, by denying education to half its population, is inviting the country to get into a deeper crisis of poverty, inequality, and stagnancy. Taliban’s annihilationist measures are casting Afghanistan back into the abyss where women are not considered human beings.

Yet despite these restrictions, the resilience of Afghan women is undeniable. There are underground schools that are being operated by exiled women’s rights activists. In such horrible times, these schools provide women with education. One such example is the Pohana Fund, an NGO founded by Wazhma Tokhi, an exiled Afghan education campaigner. The Pohana Fund employs teachers and pays their salaries. It also provides textbooks for students. Mostly, the schools operate inside homes. The organization has recently expanded its network to the southeastern regions of the country. There are many other activists like Tokhi who fund these organizations and try their best to ensure women are not left without education.

Women across Afghanistan are determined to resist beyond borders through social media and international platforms. With Taliban efforts to muzzle them, Afghan women are using technology to remain connected, exchange information and raise awareness about the atrocities they endure. Activists, international NGOs, and governments have come forward in support of their cause, though much more needs to be done.

The Afghans in exile advocate for their country and help people back home in any way possible. This goes on to prove that no matter what the Taliban have put the community through, it still is not enough to silence them. These women have become symbols to the citizens of their nation.

In hardships like these, the determination of Afghan women continues to echo. This fight for education is far from over.