UN official: Taliban to announce secondary school for girls

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A senior U.N. official says the Taliban told him they will announce “very soon” that all Afghan girls will be allowed to attend secondary schools. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi, who visited Kabul last week, told U.N. reporters Friday that five of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces — Balkh, Jawzjan, Samangan, Kunduz and Urozgan — are already allowing girls to attend secondary school. He said the Taliban’s education minister told him they are working on “a framework” to allow all girls to continue their schooling beyond the sixth grade, which should be published “between a month and two.”