“The Afghan Minister of Education has announced that women will be permanently banned from attending schools.”
The Taliban continues to ban Afghan girls above sixth grade and women from secondary schools and universities.
- Who
- The speaker is Neda Mohammad Nadeem, acting Minister of Higher Education, not the Minister of Education.
- What was said
- He stated in Pashto that both female education and reporters' questions about it are "suspended until further notice" (ma'atal), not newly or permanently banned, and primary schools up to grade 6 remain open.
- When
- The press conference took place on 25 August 2024; the secondary school ban began in September 2021 (upheld in March 2022) and the university ban in December 2022.
Show the working
The de facto ban on female secondary and higher education in Afghanistan is real and ongoing, locking out roughly 2.4 million girls from secondary school (UNESCO, August 2026). However, the video does not show an announcement of a permanent ban across all schools. The speaker is Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban's acting Minister of Higher Education (the Minister of Education is Habibullah Agha), speaking at an accountability press briefing in Kabul on 25 August 2024. In the 24-second Pashto audio, Nadeem responds to a reporter by saying: "Just as education is suspended until further notice (tar amr-e sani pori ma'atal di), this question is also suspended until further notice, because anyone asking it wants an answer that fulfills their own agenda, and that is not possible right now." Primary schools up to grade six remain open to girls, and the Taliban's official phrasing remains an indefinite suspension ("until further notice") pending review by religious scholars under Hanafi jurisprudence, rather than a formal declaration of permanence.
Where this comes from: Press conference broadcast by the Taliban's Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) in Kabul on 25 August 2024, reported by Amu TV and Afghanistan International.