Taliban leaders ask us to believe that they will not return to the oppression of their pre-2001 rule, when they persecuted women, violated the basic rights of girls and denied them education.
Sadly, actions on the ground do not yet bear this out. Conquering fighters have reportedly seized young girls as "wives.” Women are afraid to leave their homes unless clad in full-body burqas and niqabs, and schools are already closing, with girls told that education is not for them.
In an interview in June, the Taliban leadership called for "separation between girls and boys, women and men, in universities, schools or madrassas.” While they say that girls can, for now, continue with their first three years of education, one Taliban commander stated, ominously, that "our ulema (scholars) will decide whether girls are allowed to go to school or not.” Girls, Taliban negotiators have said, will have to abide by "Islamic injunctions.”