Five years after retaking Afghanistan, the Taliban's ban on secondary and higher education for girls has left 2.4 million of them shut out of school, according to a UN agency, erasing decades of progress on girls' education and denying an entire generation the chance to learn. The restriction, one of the most sweeping curbs on women's rights imposed by the Taliban since it returned to power, has drawn sustained international condemnation and highlights the regime's broader rollback of freedoms for Afghan women and girls.

The ban has been in place since the Taliban seized control of the country five years ago, barring girls from attending school beyond the primary level and effectively cutting off their route to higher education and future employment. The figures were highlighted by a UN agency as evidence of the scale of the setback, with campaigners warning that the policy risks entrenching long-term damage to Afghanistan's social and economic development.