Before the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021, girls’ access to education was steadily improving.

In 2019, the Ministry of Education introduced the country’s first Girls Education Policy, known as the GEP. This policy sought to improve women’s literacy rates and access to education nationwide. The National Education Strategic Plan and the Girls’ Education Strategy were working to increase gender equity as well, through initiatives such as hiring 30,000 additional female teachers.

For a decade, I was part of these efforts advocating for change.

This all came to a halt when the Taliban took over and immediately outlawed education for girls after the sixth grade. Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that restricts girls’ education by law.

Should this ban persist, the consequences would be dire. Millions of girls will face increased abuse and trauma. Families may be forced to leave the country. Additionally, the ban may intensify extremism and lead to billions of dollars in economic losses.

This is the second time that the Taliban have banned education for girls in Afghanistan. The first time was during their previous regime in the late 1990s. When the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, everything changed. Communities, civil society, the Afghanistan government and international partners, including foreign governments and NGOs, came together to support girls’ education. Consequently, school enrollments for girls increased dramatically from almost none in 2001 to about 4 million by 2020.

Even with these efforts, there were........

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