Taliban officials in Kabul have asked Pakistan to send teachers to Afghanistan, meanwhile firing thousands of Afghan professionals and staff members at academic institutions across the country.
The Taliban Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammed Nadeem, announced calls to Pakistan to send teachers to Afghanistan. Nadeem requested a meeting with Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan, Obaid ur-Rehman Nizamani, where they discussed cooperation between the two countries over academic affairs.
This comes at a moment when over thousands of teachers and university professors, particularly women have lost their jobs over the past two years under the Taliban regime. Last week, in a decree of the Taliban, the teachers training institutes were closed, leaving thousands of teachers and staff members out of jobs. The order affected 49 teacher training centers and 198 supporting centers, vastly affecting the future generations of teachers and quality of education in Afghanistan.
The Taliban is likely to continue its war on eradicating all forms of secular education, including removing those from their jobs who taught secular education for 20 years under the Western-backed republic regime. Inviting teachers and professors from Pakistan guarantees that they will not resist the curriculum of the Taliban, mostly removing secular education from the curriculum.
This type of engagement from Pakistan also symbolizes diplomatic relations between the two countries, representing a shift in the status of the Taliban from de-facto authorities to an unofficial legitimate government. During the first regime of the Taliban, Pakistan was one of three countries only that granted recognition to the Taliban. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were the two other countries.
Such cooperation allows the Taliban to continue their brutal regime and institution of gender apartheid without facing accountability. Worst of all, it normalizes Taliban control, which has led to acute starvation, mass unemployment, and a loss of rights and freedoms for women.
The Feminist Majority Foundation urges the U.S. and the greater international community to not recognize the Taliban.
Source:
Arian New, 07/15/2023; FMF 07/15/2023
