"When education was closed to us, my dreams were destroyed. I wanted to become a pilot." The words of a girl from Herat were read out at a United Nations meeting on the future of Afghan youth, where Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, warned that opportunities for young people are disappearing.
Bennett said young Afghans want to pursue higher education, find meaningful work, become financially independent, start families and serve their communities, "yet today in Afghanistan, many of these opportunities have either been severely restricted or completely taken away." The event, titled "Afghan Youth at a Crossroads", brought together young Afghans, diplomats and rights advocates, some joining from inside Afghanistan.
Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Afghanistan's charge d'affaires at the UN, said behind the figures were young people who had hoped to become doctors, teachers, engineers or journalists, and that every year of exclusion made those hopes harder to fulfil. He said that by September 2025 more than 23,000 religious institutions had been registered, repurposed or set up by the Taliban, and voiced concern that madrasas were replacing mainstream education as subjects such as foreign languages and civic education were dropped. Faiq represents the former Afghan government's mission at the UN; the Taliban administration has said its education policies follow the country's Islamic values.
Girls in Afghanistan are barred from formal schooling beyond sixth grade and women from universities. UNICEF said in August that more than 2.6 million Afghan girls had been denied secondary education since the Taliban returned in 2021. Ireland's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Nuala Ní Mhuircheartaigh, said the loss of qualified female teachers and the removal of key subjects had also hurt the quality of boys' education.
Speakers called for young Afghans to have a bigger voice in international discussions on the country and for practical support for education, scholarships and skills training.