Hypocrisy or a reason for hope? The Taliban who send their girls to school

Afghan girls read the Quran in a mosque outside Kabul. Quran study is the only education available to them following the closure of public schools. Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

The Taliban official’s wife apologised for keeping her visit brief. She needed to get her teenage girls ready to fly to Doha, the Qatari capital, where they would shortly be starting a new term, she explained to her host earlier this year.

In Kabul, and across much of Afghanistan, girls have not been legally able to attend high school for nearly a year, because of a Taliban ban. Officials insist the ruling is only temporary, but have set no conditions or timeline for lifting it.