Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai on Monday urged the United States to take action in helping Afghan girls return to the classroom in the wake of the Taliban takeover as she met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Malala, 24, who was shot in the head by an assassin from the Pakistani Taliban nine years ago but survived, said she had come to talk about 'equality in education.'
'But we know that Afghanistan right now is the only country where girls do not have access to secondary education,' she said.
'They are prohibited from learning, and I have been working together with Afghan girls and women’s activists, and there is this one message from them: that they should be given the right to work.
'They should be able to go to school.'
Activists have repeatedly sounded the alarm about a sharp erosion of rights since the Taliban seized control of the country in the middle of August, as U.S, troops departed.
Education campaigner Malala Yousafzai urged the U.S. to do more in helping girls get back to school in Afghanistan when she met Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday
Taliban gunmen seen in Kabul, where the Islamist movement has been in control since August. They have not allowed girls in grades 7-12 to return to school
On Friday, the Islamist group issued a 'special decree' outlining women's rights under their rule.
'A woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange of for peace deal or to end animosity,' it said.
But it made no reference to getting an education or a job.
Although the Taliban has allowed younger girls to return to school, they say grades 7-12 may only return once classes are held
