Afghan Ministry announced the reopening of schools for all in spring

Kabul: Thomas West, the US special representative to Afghanistan, told BBC Pashto that the US and international community aim to cover school teachers' incomes if the Taliban allows girls' schools to reopen. Officials stated that they will make decisions about girls' schools without regard to external demands, and that schools have been temporarily closed across Afghanistan and will reopen in the spring.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) announced two days after Thomas West's remarks on girls' education that it will reopen schools for all age groups, both girls and boys, at the start of the new year (March 21).

"Whether the international community and the United States pay teacher’s salaries or not, we, as the government, will open schools in the spring, and this decision is unrelated to the demands of the United States and the international community," said Aziz Ahmad Reyan, the MoE's head of Publication and Public Relations.

"The ministry of higher education is working hard to establish universities as soon as possible," said Ahmad Taqqi, the ministry's spokesman. Following the return of the Islamic Emirate to power in Afghanistan in mid-August, which sparked widespread protests both domestically and internationally, girls in grades 7-12 were forbidden from attending school. "We shall witness a government collapse if the international community's demands for school reopening are not considered," stated education expert Khalil Ahmad Kanjo