Afghanistan

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Thousands of Afghans have been brought to Britain in secrecy after a data leak

Thousands of Afghans, including many who worked with British forces, have been secretly resettled in the U.K. after a leak of data on their identities raised fears that the Taliban could target them, the British government revealed Tuesday. Read More.

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🌐 Afghanistan's Taliban released American academic Dennis Coyle today after holding him for over a year. Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention earlier this month. Gift link.

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Girls Without Schools

Approximately 2.4 million Afghan girls remain barred from secondary education five years into Taliban rule, according to a United Nations report published yesterday. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with formal bans on women's education. The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021, as US and NATO troops withdrew following two decades of war (Taliban 101). By March 2022, the Islamic fundamentalist group had shuttered girls' secondary schools, and women were barred from universities in December 2022. The decision erased recent gains in female education, with girls' secondary school enrollment rising from a few thousand in 2001 to roughly 1 million in 2021. The UN believes the bans could reduce the female workforce by 600,000 over the next 40 years and increase the risk of early marriage. What are Afghan female academics doing now? Women are also prohibited from teaching boys, contributing to a teacher shortage. Afghanistan’s literacy rate is among the world’s lowest at roughly 37%. Compare literacy rates here.