Karzai urges Taliban to restore girls' education for legitimacy

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has made a direct appeal to the Taliban regime to restore educational access for girls, framing the issue as critical to the movement's bid for global legitimacy and acceptance.

Approximately 3.8 million girls are currently out of school in Afghanistan, a situation that has drawn widespread international condemnation since the Taliban's return to power. Karzai's intervention suggests that education policy may become a key barometer for whether the Taliban can gain the diplomatic recognition and international engagement it seeks.

The education ban represents one of the most visible points of friction between the Taliban and the international community. Many nations have made girls' education a precondition for normalising relations with Kabul, linking aid and recognition to concrete progress on the issue.

Karzai's remarks underscore growing pressure on Taliban leadership to reconsider policies that have alienated both domestic populations and foreign governments. Education advocates argue that restoring schooling for girls would demonstrate a willingness to move beyond the movement's hardline ideology and signal potential for pragmatic governance.