Afghan Taliban skip Pakistan-hosted summit on girls education

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, center, attends an international summit on girls education in Muslim communities in Islamabad, Jan. 11, 2025.

Pakistan hosted a two-day global conference Saturday, where delegates advocated for the promotion of girls education worldwide in Muslim communities and denounced restrictions on female schooling as contrary to the principles of Islam. However, speakers, including the host, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and scholars from participating nations, refrained from mentioning Afghanistan, the sole Islamic country where its hard-line Taliban leaders have banned girls from seeking education beyond the sixth grade. Pakistani officials announced on the eve of the conference that the Taliban government in Kabul had been formally invited to attend the Global Summit on Girls' Education in Muslim Communities, but Islamabad did not receive a response. More than 150 international dignitaries are attending the summit in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, including ministers, ambassadors, scholars, and academics from 44 Muslim and Muslim-friendly countries, as well as representatives from international organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, according to officials. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, the secretary-general of the Muslim World League, a non-governmental international organization based in Saudi Arabia, stressed in his speech that men and women must acquire education. He later addressed a televised news conference with the help of his interpreter to emphasize that Islam allows women to receive an education. "The Islamic world is united in its belief that those who oppose women's education are misguided and do not represent true Islam," Al-Issa responded when asked if the outcome of the summit could encourage the Taliban to relax restrictions on women's access to education and employment in Afghanistan. The Saudi scholar clarified that the gathering in Islamabad was not directed at any specific community or country.