The Taliban in Afghanistan - What's Happening?

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The Taliban in Afghanistan is due to lift its ban and allow girls to return to secondary school classrooms. After the collapse of the Republic, last August, all the schools were closed, boys and girls. The next month, the Taliban reopened them, but they didn't allow girls to go back to high school,. But the Taliban insisted that this was just temporary until they could get additional measures in place so that men and women, boys and girl, didn't mix at odds with their strict interpretation of Islam.

One year ago this week, when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, they promised to institute a modern form of Islamic government that honored women’s rights.

That promise evaporated with a sudden decision to prohibit girls from going to high school, prompting questions about which part of the Taliban is really running the country.

Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times and the author of “The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees.”

Background reading:

After barring girls from high school — and harboring a leader of Al Qaeda — the Taliban risks jeopardizing the billions of dollars of global aid that keeps Afghans alive.

For more information on today’s episode, visit

nytimes.com/thedaily

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