Taliban orders middle and high schools for girls to close
No sooner had Afghanistan's middle and high schools for girls opened for a new academic year, the Taliban ordered them shut.
A television crew was filming a lesson in a class at Zarghona High School for Girls in the capital Kabul on Wednesday morning when a teacher entered and ordered the students to go home.
The latter, who were rejoicing in their return to school for the first time since the Islamic fundamentalists took power last August, closed their books, packed their things, and left the classroom in tears.
"Yes it's true," Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP without further comment, confirming reports that the girls across the country had been asked to return home.
No Taliban official was immediately reachable to explain the reason for this decision.
"We have no right to comment," education ministry spokesman Ahmad Aziz Rayan said simply.
"I saw my students cry and hesitate to leave class. It's very painful to see your students cry," said Palwasha, a teacher at the Omara Khan girls' school, also in the capital.
Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative for Afghanistan, has described reports of school closures as "disturbing".
"If true, what could possibly be the reason?" she asked on Twitter.
The international community has made the right to education for all a stumbling block in negotiations on aid and recognition of the fundamentalist Islamist regime. Several countries and organisations have proposed paying teachers.
The ministry of education had however announced the resumption of classes on Wednesday for girls in several provinces, except those of Kandahar (South), the cradle of the Taliban, which was to reopen next month.
"We are not reopening schools to please the international community, nor to gain
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