Taliban Supreme Leader Appoints Loyalist as Education Minister

The supreme leader of the Taliban government in Afghanistan has appointed a hard-line cleric as the country’s education minister, in a sign that the ban on secondary education for girls will continue. When the Taliban returned to power a year ago, they barred girls and women from receiving an education. Some have responded by opening underground classes, putting themselves at significant risk. A government spokesman announced on Tuesday that reclusive Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had named Habibullah Agha, a 68-year-old member of his inner circle, as the new education minister. “We can’t make any plans on our own. We don’t do that. Rather, I will act according to the instructions given by the supreme leader,” Agha told French news agency AFP on Wednesday. The minister said he had not received any orders yet on the question of girls’ education, and would not divulge his personal views on the matter. “The appointment of Habibullah Agha … indicates the Taliban are elevating loyalists who reject the reopening of girls’ schools,” said Nishank Motwani, an Afghan specialist and fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.