Kabul teacher challenges Taliban rule as education faces deepening crisis

ISLAMABAD: A Kabul teacher has publicly challenged the Taliban's policies on education, religion and governance, saying the regime misuses religion to pursue ethnic objectives, warning that Afghans have been “left with little hope” since the Taliban returned to power.

Nawidullah Fitrat made the remarks during a live video broadcast on Facebook this week, parts of which have since circulated widely online. 

Speaking about Taliban rule, Fitrat said, “This may be my last video, but I will tell the truth before I die.”

His intervention comes as Afghanistan's education system enters a fifth year under Taliban rule, with girls and women facing unprecedented restrictions and educators warning of the longer-term consequences for the country's schools.

Education under Taliban rule

Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls and women are barred from secondary and higher education, according to UNICEF. More than 2.6 million girls have been denied secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

UNESCO has warned that the restrictions are reversing years of educational progress. The agency estimates that 2.4 million girls remain excluded from secondary education in 2026 and says the ban could contribute to a shortage of more than 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030.

The consequences extend beyond students.

UNESCO has warned that many qualified teachers have left Afghanistan, while others have been prevented from continuing their work. The restrictions could leave schools increasingly dependent on unqualified teachers or facing shortages, particularly of female educators.

UNICEF has also warned that restrictions on girls' education and women's employment could result in Afghanistan losing thousands of female teachers and health workers by 2030.

Fitrat directly addressed the impact of the Taliban's policies, saying: “You stood in the way of education.” 

He also slammed the authorities of having “destroyed schools” and “attacked universities.”

Pressure on teachers

The pressures facing educators are also visible at the provincial level.

In Daikundi, a mountainous province in central Afghanistan, teachers have complained about “arbitrary decisions” by the Taliban-run provincial education department over the redistribution of teaching positions.

According to KabulNow, teachers said female educators from Shahristan and Miramor districts were transferred to more remote areas, including Khadir, Ashtarly, Sang-e-Takht-o-Bandar, Kajran and Nili, the provincial capital.

Documents cited by the outlet showed that 47 teachers were transferred between schools within Shahristan, while another 19 were reassigned to other districts.

The complaints are particularly significant for female teachers because Taliban restrictions on women's movement and requirements concerning male accompaniment can make travel between distant districts difficult.

Teachers called on the provincial education authorities to reconsider the transfers and take local conditions and school requirements into account.

The dispute illustrates how restrictions under Taliban rule affect not only students but also the educators needed to keep Afghanistan's schools functioning.

Religion and political control

Fitrat also accused the Taliban of placing a religious “mask” over ethnic and political objectives.

He urged the authorities to “remove its religious mask” and “separate religion from politics,” arguing that the regime's policies had left Afghans with diminishing opportunities.

The Taliban have repeatedly defended their education policies as consistent with their interpretation of Islamic law. But international organizations have continued to criticize the restrictions.

UNESCO has described Afghanistan's exclusion of girls and women from education as an unprecedented global situation, warning that the consequences could extend for decades through lost skills, reduced economic participation and fewer opportunities for young women.

UNICEF has also warned that keeping girls out of school increases their vulnerability to child labor, early marriage, violence and abuse.

A growing warning from educators

Fitrat's remarks therefore come amid broader education crisis in which restrictions on students are increasingly affecting teachers, schools and Afghanistan's future human capital.

He told Afghans that opportunities had disappeared since the Taliban's return and urged people to unite against the regime.

“Your concern is ethnic domination, not the salvation of religion,” he said.

Fitrat also called on Afghans to resist the Taliban, saying: “There is only one way left for you, to put down your pen and take your gun and your sword.”

His call for armed resistance should be distinguished from the independently documented education crisis and from claims by armed opposition groups that cannot always be independently verified.

Still, his decision to publicly challenge Taliban policies underscores the growing frustration among some Afghans over restrictions on education and political and social freedoms.