Afghan girls attend their first day of class at a new school built with German aid money in the village of Deh Hassan, northern Afghanistan, in March 2008. Afghan girls seeking an education are increasingly at serious risk. Last April, someone, probably the Taliban, poisoned the water at a girls school in Takhar Province.
Photo: Reuters Staff/ Reuters
Women in Uniform
A female officer from Officer Candidate School at Kabul Military Training Centre stands next to her bed as high-ranking officials from the defense ministry arrive to inspect the school after a graduation ceremony in Kabul, May 19, 2011. The female officers graduated from a 20-week course including computer training, human resources training, English classes and marksmanship. In 2010, Afghanistan began military education for women. A resurgent Taliban may reverse that trend.
Photo: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Literacy Rate Rising
A woman takes part in a literacy class at the Family Guidance Center women's shelter in Kabul, August 9, 2009. According to a 2006 report by the U.K.-based NGO Womankind, anywhere between 60 and 80 percent of marriages in Afghanistan are forced, 57 percent of brides are under the age of 16, and 87 percent complain of domestic violence. Afghan women suffer from the lowest literacy rate in the world, at 13 percent. Efforts to increase literacy amoung women have helped Afghanistan's efforts to train more female teachers. These modest gains are not Taliban approved.
Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
Skateboarding in the Streets
An Afghan girl takes part in a skateboarding competition to mark the third annual Go Skateboarding Day in Kabul, June 21, 2011. If the Taliban returns to power, the event will be renamed Go Skateboarding, Go Straight to Hell Day.
Photo: Mohammed Ismail/Reuters
Taliban Poisons Girls at School
Afghan schoolgirls receive treatment at a hospital after being poisoned in Kabul, August 28, 2010. Seven Afghan schoolgirls were taken to the hospital after a suspected gas poisoning attack on their school east of Kabul, said Education Ministry official Asif Nang.
Photo: Omar Sobhani/Reuters
Poisoned for Seeking an Education
A schoolgirl lies in a hospital bed after she was poisoned at Qazaaq primary school in Kapisa province, north of Kabul, May 12, 2009. Five young girls slipped briefly into comas and nearly 100 were taken to the hospital after a gas attack on their school, the third in a series of such incidents north of Kabul, Afghan officials said.
Photo: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Afghan Girl Treated for Poisoning
A schoolgirl grimaces as she receives an injection in a hospital after she was poisoned at Qazaaq primary school in Kapisa province, north of Kabul, May 12, 2009.
Photo: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Afghan Police Protect Girls School
An Afghan policeman stands guard at the gate of a closed school in Ghazni province, May 6, 2012. More than 100 mixed or girls' schools have closed in Ghazni province in recent weeks in what the Ministry of Education says is a Taliban campaign against educating girls. The Taliban has denied involvement. Afghan girls were banned from receiving an education and women were not allowed to work or vote under the five-year rule of the hardline Islamist Taliban before the group was toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001. The Taliban's real lessons for Afghan women may become much clearer once coalition forces leave.
Photo: Mustafa Andalib/Reuters
Hope for Afghan Girls?
Afghan girls attend a class at the Ishkashim high school for girls in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, near the border with Tajikistan. How much longer will these girls be able to stay in school?
What do you think the future is for female education in Afghanistan? Scroll down and leave your predictions in comments.
