About two dozen girls and women chanting "open the schools" protested in the Afghan capital Saturday against the Taliban's decision to shut their secondary schools just hours after re-opening them this week.
Thousands of jubilant girls across Afghanistan had flocked to learning institutions on Wednesday -- the date the education ministry had set for classes to resume.
But just hours into the first day, the ministry announced a shock policy reversal that left youngsters saying they felt betrayed and foreign governments expressing outrage.
"Open the schools! Justice, justice!" chanted protesters Saturday, some carrying school books as they gathered at a city square in Kabul.They held banners that said: "Education is our fundamental right, not a political plan" as they marched for a short distance and later dispersed as Taliban arrived at the scene.
The protest was the first held by women in weeks after the Taliban rounded up the ringleaders of initial demonstrations held after they returned to power in August.
The Talibans have not given a clear reason for their decision, which came after a meeting late Tuesday of senior officials in the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban's de facto power centre and spiritual heartland.
It followed months of work by some foreign countries on a plan to support the payment of teachers' wages.
Afghan secondary school girls have now been out of education for more than seven months.
"Even the Prophet (Mohammed PBUH) said everyone has the right to education, but the Taliban have snatched this right from us," said youngster Nawesa at the demonstration, which was organised by two women's rights groups.
"The Taliban can not oppress the women of Afghanistan," said another protester, Laila Basim.Since returning to power on August 15 the Taliban have rolled back two decades of gains made by the country's women, who have been squeezed out of many government jobs, barred from travelling alone, and ordered to dress according to a strict interpretation of the Koran.
Some Afghan women initially pushed back against the Taliban's curbs, holding small protests where they demanded the right to education and work. But the Taliban soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding them incommunicado while denying that they had been detained. Since their release, most have gone silent.
The United States has cancelled planned talks with the Taliban in Qatar that were set to address key economic issues after the group that is now ruling Afghanistan reversed a decision to allow girls to return to secondary school.
The cancellation was the first concrete sign that recent Taliban moves on human rights and inclusivity could directly affect the international community’s willingness to help the group, some of whose leaders are under US sanctions.
“On Tuesday, we joined millions of Afghan families in expressing our deep disappointment with the Taliban’s decision to not allow women and girls to return to secondary school,” a State Department spokesperson said on Friday.
“We have cancelled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha [Qatar’s capital] around the Doha Forum, and made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement.”
The move comes after the Taliban on Wednesday backtracked on their previous commitment to open secondary schools to girls, saying that they would remain closed until a plan was drawn up for them to reopen.
The reversal shocked many, leaving students in tears and sparking small protests by girls in the capital Kabul.
It also drew condemnation from humanitarian agencies and foreign governments.
“This decision by the Taliban, if it is not swiftly reversed, will profoundly harm the Afghan people, the country’s prospects for economic growth, and the Taliban’s ambition to improve their relations with the international community,” the spokesperson said.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Norway and the US, as well as the high representative of the European Union, said the Taliban’s decision will harm the group’s prospects for legitimacy.