Malala Yousafzai asks Muslim leaders to reject Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women openly  

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai speaks during the "Girls' Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities" summit in Islamabad, Jan. 12, 2025. She sharply criticized the Taliban government for curbs on women’s access to education and employment.

Nobel Peace Prize laurate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders Sunday not to “legitimize” Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, accusing them of being the “perpetrators of gender apartheid” and calling for accountability. Yousafzai spoke at the closing session of a Pakistan-hosted international summit on girls’ education in Muslim communities around the world, sharply criticizing the hardline Taliban government for imposing sweeping curbs on Afghan women’s access to education and employment. “For the past three-and-a-half years, the Taliban have ripped away the right to learn from every Afghan girl. They have weaponized our faith to justify it,” the education activist stated. “The Taliban are explicit about their mission. They want to eliminate women and girls from every aspect of public life and erase them from society,” she said. “Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings. They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification.” The Taliban swept back to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, imposing their strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as Sharia, that the United Nations has labeled as “gender apartheid.” Afghan girls are entirely banned from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Women are prohibited from public and private workplaces except for a few departments, such as health, immigration, and police.