As the world agonizes over Afghan Taliban’s clampdown on girls’ education and exclusion of females from employment, tribal elders and intellectuals from Pakistan and Afghanistan’s border region remain divided over the issue.

This division became obvious during a Pak-Afghan Tribal Stakeholders Dialogue held at Peshawar. While most of the two dozen participants declared education as a fundamental right for girls, many attempted to justify Taliban’s orders by saying impediments to girls’ education are not entirely due to religion but cultural and tribal attitudes of the society too.

Currently, around 850,000 Afghan girls are out of secondary schools – up to 80% percent of the total female student population above the primary education level.

The dialogue, organized by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS)  in collaboration with OESP, Afghanistan, was meant to measure the potential leverage of the tribal leaders with the Taliban regime on the issue of  education and employment for women.  The participants of the dialogue  included tribal elders from the bordering areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan ( Ningarhar, Shinwaar, Mohmand, South and North Waziristan, Kurram, Khyber).

Some of the elders opined that the international community should not make its support for the needy millions in Afghanistan conditional with the permission to girls’ secondary education and employment.

The Pakistani elders expressed concerns regarding the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and the problems following the influx of refugees into Pakistan. They also stressed the need for the world community to nudge Taliban into compliance with the commitments they made in the Doha Peace Agreement, especially concerning Afghan girls’ education and human rights. They noted that governments on both sides should realize and legitimize the tribal leaders’ centuries-old role in peacemaking. Only the masses (Oolas) can bridge the gap, therefore, the consultation process and people-to-people ties need to be strengthened.

In the interest of economic and people-to-people connectivity, a robust mechanism should be devised to address the issues in trade and public movement, and new infrastructure and border markets should be developed as an essentiality to enhance relations.

“850,000 Afghans have applied for a Pakistani visa, in addition to already documented nearly two million Afghans in Pakistan. This situation is overwhelming the administration.”, said a participant about the surge in refugee influx.

Trade should be apolitical; not be held hostage to geopolitics. The rampant corruption in the trade and transit process should be dealt through joint mitigation efforts. The participants expressed concerns about the shrinking trade volume between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the brisk decamping of Afghan traders from the economic sphere due to the inimical business environment.

The gathering  evoked an insightful discussion on women’s rights, where the participating tribal elders deemed Taliban’s attempt to pull women off the public sphere as of a serious concern.. They noted that Islam empowers women and thus, they need to be included in the economic workforce in the light of Sharia and culture. While efforts should be made to include them, external interference in these matters cannot be accepted, hence, a domestic discourse on these issue needs to be carried forward. The elders said that the pursuit of knowledge is imperative but needs to be within the boundaries of Shariah and norms of the territories. The participants demanded measures from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to ensure education for all its citizens with dignity, including women.