Ex-Afghan leader Hamid Karzai says girls’ education key to Taliban legitimacy

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai believes the Taliban government faces significant hurdles in achieving international legitimacy as long as it continues to deny girls and women access to education and employment. Karzai, who led a U.S.-backed government during the previous conflict, remains in Kabul but has his movements restricted by the current authorities.

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I’ve been repeatedly speaking to them and telling them of the importance of education for Afghanistan, of the importance of Afghan women, half the society, getting back to work.

Since the Taliban's takeover in August 2021, Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has implemented severe restrictions, barring girls from secondary schools and universities, limiting women's work opportunities, and enforcing strict dress codes. Karzai, 68, stated he regularly urges Taliban officials to ease these measures, emphasizing the critical role of education and women's participation in society.

"Many of them understand, appreciate and agree with me," Karzai said in an interview for Bloomberg’s The Mishal Husain Show. He noted that during his nearly 13 years leading Afghanistan after the U.S.-led overthrow of the first Taliban regime in 2001, his administration saw a significant rise in girls' education, despite facing corruption allegations.

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Many of them understand, appreciate and agree with me.

Western nations have made the improvement of women's rights a prerequisite for normalizing relations with the Taliban. Afghanistan remains economically isolated, with its banking sector largely cut off from global finance. Russia is the only country to formally recognize the Taliban government, though others like China and India have re-established trade and diplomatic ties. United Nations experts have described the restrictions as "gender apartheid" and estimate they cost Afghanistan at least $102 million annually, with about 3.8 million girls out of school. Past attempts at international persuasion, including talks in Oslo and Doha, have failed to yield changes.

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Recognition and legitimacy comes from the fulfilment of certain conditions in Afghanistan. The international community has been asking for that, repeatedly. The United Nations has been asking for that repeatedly – which is again, I keep repeating myself, the return of girls to school, the return of women to work.