How Afghan Girls in Exile Are Defying the Taliban’s War on Education

Two years after the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan has become a graveyard for girls’ dreams—and the world is letting it happen.

Afghan girls are not just banned from classrooms; they are being buried under a regime that treats female intellect as a threat to its survival. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, they have imposed the most extreme system of gender apartheid on the planet—criminalizing education, mobility, employment, and visibility for women and girls.

But in this darkness, a rebellion has begun—led not by governments or international organizations, but by Afghan girls themselves. Two figures are lighting the way: Pashtana Durrani, the underground educator forced into exile, and Robina Azizi, a teenage refugee who turned her own exclusion into a digital movement.

Afghanistan: From a Promising Democracy to a Gender Prison

The crisis didn’t begin in 2021. It has deep roots.

After the 2001 U.S.-led invasion toppled the first Taliban regime, Afghanistan entered a fragile period of reconstruction. Billions of dollars poured into education, health, and infrastructure. Girls returned to school. Women joined parliament, newsrooms, and courtrooms. At its peak, over 3.5 million girls were enrolled in school.

But this progress was uneven, urban-centric, and heavily dependent on international aid. Corruption, insecurity, and short-term foreign commitments weakened the foundations. Meanwhile, U.S. and NATO negotiations with the Taliban—including the 2020 Doha Agreement—excluded Afghan women entirely.

Then came the collapse.

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban marched back into Kabul. The Afghan government disintegrated. In days, two decades of progress were wiped out. One of their first acts? Banning girls from secondary schools. Then universities. Then female staff at NGOs. Then public parks, gyms, and even beauty salons. By 2023, women were virtually erased from public life.

More than 1.5 million girls are now denied education. A generation is being deliberately dismantled. And yet, the Taliban remain unrecognized but increasingly normalized on the global stage.

Pashtana Durrani: A Warrior Educator in Exile

Pashtana Durrani, founder of LEARN Afghanistan

Born during the Taliban’s first regime, Pashtana Durrani never took education for granted. In 2018, she founded LEARN Afghanistan, an NGO that secretly educated girls in rural and Taliban-influenced areas, using solar-powered tablets and offline curriculums.

When the Taliban returned, she was forced to flee. But LEARN continued.

"Afghan girls don’t need saviors. We need space, access, and the chance to lead our own future."
— Pashtana Durrani, founder of LEARN Afghanistan

Now operating from exile, Pashtana runs underground learning centers inside Afghanistan and remote teaching programs beyond its borders. Her message is direct: “Afghan girls are not waiting for saviors—they’re already leading their own revolution.”

Pashtana speaks out relentlessly—from the UN to international media—exposing not only the Taliban’s crimes but the hypocrisy of the global response. Aid is still flowing. Diplomatic engagement continues. And yet, Afghan girls remain invisible in the very negotiations that decide their fate.

Robina Azizi: The Rise of a Teenage Dissident

Robina Azizi, founder of Girls on the Path of Change (GPC)

"They took away our schools. So I built one from a refugee room with my phone."
— Robina Azizi, founder of Girls on the Path of Change (GPC)

If Pashtana laid the groundwork, Robina Azizi is building the future.

Now 18, Robina fled to Pakistan after being barred from education twice—once by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and again in exile. Refugee girls in Pakistan face a double exclusion: caught between border politics, bureaucracy, and rising anti-Afghan sentiment, they are often denied access to local schools.

But Robina didn’t stop. She launched Girls on the Path of Change (GPC)—a digital learning platform for Afghan girls, founded from a tiny rented room and a borrowed smartphone. Starting with a few online students, GPC now reaches hundreds of girls across borders, offering English, digital skills, storytelling, and leadership training.

What makes Robina’s work radical is its defiance of both Taliban repression and the complacency of host states. She challenges not just the regime that expelled her—but the international order that keeps her and others in educational limbo.

The Double Standard of the International Community

Afghanistan is the only country in the world where it’s illegal to educate girls. But the response from the so-called defenders of human rights has been alarmingly muted.

UN and donor countries continue to fund humanitarian aid through Taliban-controlled ministries—with minimal transparency or conditions.
Regional powers maintain diplomatic and economic ties while remaining silent on women’s rights.
Pakistan and Iran, host to millions of Afghan refugees, offer few education opportunities and subject girls to constant fear of deportation, harassment, or detention.

This is not neutrality—it is complicity. Every time a Taliban official is invited to talks without preconditions on education, it sends a message: girls are negotiable.

Education as Resistance

For the Taliban, banning education is not just policy—it is strategy. Educated girls become journalists, judges, activists, politicians. They question power. They seek freedom. That is why classrooms are their battleground.

But Afghan girls have turned education into resistance. From secret schools in Herat to digital classrooms in Quetta, they are preserving their identity, their voice, and their future—one lesson at a time.

The Call to the World: Whose Side Are You On?

The question is no longer whether Afghan girls will fight. The question is whether we will stand with them.

To the international community: Stop legitimizing the Taliban through aid without conditions. Demand the full restoration of girls’ education—no exceptions, no excuses.
To host countries: Let refugee girls learn. Denying them education in exile is an extension of Taliban repression.
To donors and NGOs: Fund grassroots leaders like Pashtana and Robina. They are doing the work international institutions have failed to do.
To educators and activists worldwide: Partner with GPC, LEARN, and others. Offer resources, mentorship, visibility.

Afghanistan’s future is being protected not by governments, but by exiled girls with laptops, textbooks, and stolen Wi-Fi. They are not waiting for peace—they are building it in real time.

The Taliban banned classrooms. But Afghan girls have turned learning into rebellion. Now the world must choose: stand with the oppressors, or follow the students.