Unique effort reopens girls’ schools in an Afghan province

By LEE KEATH
Associated Press

HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — While most high school girls in Afghanistan are forbidden to attend class by the Taliban rulers, one major exception is in the western province of Herat. For weeks, girls there have been attending high school classes, thanks to a unique effort by teachers and parents to persuade local Taliban administrators to allow the schools to reopen. While Taliban officials never formally approved the reopening, they also didn’t prevent it either when teachers and parents started classes on their own in October. Under their previous rule in the 1990s, the militants were unwavering in their hard-line ideology toward women. Now they appear to recognize they can’t be as ruthless in an Afghanistan that has changed dramatically.