Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have banned education for girls because they said it didn’t comply with their interpretation of Islamic law. They didn’t stop it for boys. In the past three years, the Taliban have shown no signs of progress in creating the conditions they say are needed for women and girls to resume learning. But the bans don’t just hurt girls, their literacy, and their rights. With Afghanistan the only country in the world with restrictions on female education, the Associated Press looks at how the bans damage the economy and public health, and documents what a society looks like when children stop going to school.
