Thread by @AFP

Afghan girls head back to school as Taliban end ban.

The education ministry says reopening schools for girls was always a government objective and the Taliban were not bowing to pressure linked to aid and recognition of the new regime

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VIDEO: Afghan girls head back to school as Taliban end ban.

This comes after Taliban authorities announced the reopening of secondary schools, more than seven months after seizing power and imposing harsh restrictions on the rights of women to be educated

#BREAKING Taliban orders Afghan girls schools shut hours after reopening: spokesman

#UPDATE Taliban orders secondary girls schools in Afghanistan to shut just hours after they reopened, an official confirms, sparking confusion.

An @AFP team was filming at Zarghona High School in Kabul when a teacher entered and ordered everyone to go home

Heartbreak as Afghan girls ordered home just hours after schools reopen.

Crestfallen students, back at school for the first time since the Taliban seized power in August last year, tearfully packed up their belongings and filed out

u.afp.com/wsTC

#BREAKING UN voices 'profound frustration' as Taliban shutters Afghan girls' schools again

#UPDATE The Taliban ordered girls' secondary schools in Afghanistan to shut on Wednesday just hours after they reopened, sparking heartbreak and confusion while the UN rights chief said the policy reversal would be "deeply damaging" for the country u.afp.com/wsYB

#BREAKING US condemns Taliban decision to shut secondary schools for girls: State Department

#UPDATE The Taliban ordered girls' secondary schools in Afghanistan to shut on Wednesday just hours after they reopened, sparking heartbreak and confusion over the policy reversal by the hardline Islamist group, as well as international condemnation
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