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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tom Levitt and Zahra Joya

Taliban minister ‘forced to flee Afghanistan’ after speech in support of girls’ education

A bearded south Asian man in a black turban and glasses
Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who is reported to have fled to Dubai after criticising the education ban and the Taliban’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. Photograph: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu/Getty

A senior Taliban minister who expressed support for reversing the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan appears to have been forced to flee the country.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Khost province, near the Afghan-Pakistani border, on 20 January, Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, criticised the government’s ban on girls attending secondary schools and higher education.

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