Speaking at an event held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that since the “Taliban” swept into power, they have banned girls from going to secondary schools.

Blinken made the remarks at an event to inaugurate the Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Resilience, attended by US special envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West, US special envoy for Afghanistan’s women and human rights Rina Amiri, private sector and civil society leaders as well as Afghan women entrepreneurs and business leaders.

“(The) Taliban have denied women freedom of movement. They banned girls from secondary school classrooms. They prohibited women in the workplace,” Blinken said.

This comes as participants at a gathering held in Kabul to mark the International Day of Peace called on the Islamic Emirate to immediately reopen schools for girls.

"Education is the vital instrument for the development of a society,” said Shazia Niazai, a participant.

“Please reopen the gates of the schools for the girls—for half of the Afghan population,” a participant said.

“The concerns regarding the closure of girls’ schools increases day by day. The ruling power has no attention to this call of the people of Afghanistan,” said Marriam Marof Arveen, a women’s rights activist.

Meanwhile, the female students said that they are worried about their uncertain future.

“We call on the Islamic Emirate to reopen the schools because the students are hopeless and lost their morale,” said Nadia, a student.

"The right of education, the right to learn is the right of every human and no one can take away this right,” said Ayda, a student.

It has been more than one year since the schools for female students in grades 7-12 have remained closed, but there has yet to be a final decision by the Islamic Emirate.