[The women's activists presented a statement issued by four women's rights groups at a press conference in Kabul. (Photo by= AFP/Ahmad Sahel Arman)]

KABUL: Women's rights activists pledged on Sunday (Mar 27) to launch a wave of protests across Afghanistan if the Taliban fail to reopen girls' secondary schools within a week. Thousands of secondary school girls had flocked to classes on Wednesday after the hardline Islamists reopened their institutions for the first time since seizing power last August, AFP reported.
 
But officials ordered the schools shut again just hours into the day, triggering international outrage. "We call on the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open girls' schools within one week," activist Halima Nasari read from a statement issued by four women's rights groups at a press conference in Kabul. The Taliban should be building more schools for girls in rural areas rather than shutting existing facilities, said the statement, which comes after several women's activists were detained in recent months.
 
The education ministry has so far not given a clear reason for its policy reversal, but senior Taliban leader Suhail Shaheel told AFP that some "practical issues" were still to be resolved before reopening the schools. The Taliban had promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterized their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. But many restrictions have still crept back, often implemented locally at the whim of regional officials.