A senior Taliban figure urges the group's leaders to abolish Education ban on Afghan women and girlsmade a rare public denunciation of government policies, saying they had no excuses.

Sher Abbas Stanikzai, deputy political representative at the foreign ministry, made the remarks while speaking in the southeastern province of Khost on Saturday.

He told the audience at the religious school ceremony that there was no reason to deny women and girls an education, "just as there has been no reason and there should be no reason."

The government banned girls from education after sixth grade. Last September, reports emerged that authorities had also halted medical training and courses for women.

In Afghanistan, women and girls can only be treated by female doctors and health professionals. Authorities have not yet confirmed the ban on medical training.

Stanikzai said in a video shared on his official account on the social platform Access to education. “All their rights are not dictated by Islamic law but are our personal choices or nature. "

Stanikzai was the head of the Taliban negotiating team that led to the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

This is not the first time he has said women and girls should receive an education. He made similar remarks in September 2022, a few months after the school closed to girls and a year before the university ban was introduced.

But his latest comments mark his first call for a change in policy and a direct appeal to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhunzada.

Ibrahim Bays, an analyst with Crisis Group's South Asia program, said Stanikzai had regularly made statements saying girls' education was a right for all Afghan women.

"However, this latest statement appears to go further as he publicly calls for a change in policy and questions the legality of current practices," Baez said.

Earlier this month, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to challenge the Taliban on the issue of education for women and girls.

She was speaking at a conference hosted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League.

While bans on female education and employment remain in place and women cannot go out in public without a male guardian, recognition is nearly impossible, the United Nations said.

No country recognizes the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers, but countries such as Russia have been building ties with the Taliban.

India has also been developing relations with Afghan authorities.

A meeting between India's top diplomat Vikram Mistry and Foreign Minister Aamir Khan Muttaq in Dubai earlier this month showed deepening cooperation.