Südlink, June 2026: Article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig for the German NGO INKOTA Network’s north-south magazine (in German), looking at the last niches kept open by activists for women and girls to still be able to access education in Taleban-ruled Afghanistan: underground schools and online courses. While the former are illegal, although often Taleban officials know about their existence but turn a blind eye (some even send their own daughters there), online courses – run by NGOs sometimes supported from academia and others abroad or by local radio station without external help – are quite popular. Although officially also banned, they are possible if the organisers register them with the authorities (which sounds like a paradox, but not in Afghanistan). But, as AAN author Sharif Akram writes in a report quoted here says, while possibly enrolling hundreds of thousands – girls and boys – they cannot compensate for the 2 million girls kept out of schools and universities.
Photo: Clandestine computer course for older girls, somewhere in Afghanistan.
Here the full text in PDF:
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 22 Jun 2026
