Markus Potzel, the UN deputy special envoy for Afghanistan, in a visit to the eastern province of Nangarhar, stressed the need for Afghan girls’ access to secondary education and said girls and boys should be provided with the same rights to education. 

“Girls should go to school and even above grade six and should enjoy the same educational opportunities as boys,” Potzel said. 

He has also talked about the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund of $100 million to alleviate economic challenges in the country. 

He said that there were challenges in the health and education and the commercial sector, adding, “I am aware that many of these problems have existed before the take over the Taliban.”

Nangarhar officials said they hope the challenges that they have shared with the top UNAMA official are addressed. 

“The envoy of the UN visited here and pledged to help us in addressing the problems particularly in unfreezing the Afghan assets,” said Qari Noor Mohammad Hanif, head of the information and culture directorate of Nangarhar.

This comes as secondary schools – above grade six – are closed for girls over the last 300 days.