Welcome to AFGHAN DISPATCHES 06 with DIVA PATANG (twitter.com/DivaPatang?ref_src=…mp^serp|twgr^author) and ChromeRadio's CATRIONA OLIPHANT (https://chromemedia.co.uk/). Last week in Afghanistan, girls of secondary school age were getting ready to return to the classroom for the first time since the Taliban took over last August. But within hours of arriving at school, they were told to go back home. The Taliban had abruptly changed its mind – at least for now. It’s not yet clear why. Officially, the Taliban has said that a decision still needs to be made on the appropriate uniform for female students. But there is also a shortage of teachers – and with segregated classes, schools will need more teachers than before the Taliban takeover. We will discuss this backtracking by the Taliban in our next podcast, but when I last spoke to Diva, secondary schools for girls were still due to open and she was hopeful that the Taliban understood the importance of education – for girls as well as boys - for Afghanistan’s future. One of the reasons for her optimism was a photograph that had been doing the rounds on social media. MUSIC | National Anthem of Afghanistan (http://www.navyband.navy.mil/national_anthems.html) PRODUCTION | Producer/Presenter - Catriona Oliphant for ChromeRadio | Post-production - Catriona Oliphant & Chris Sharp.