A senior Taliban minister has criticised the Afghanistan government's policy of prohibiting education for women in the South Asian country, a rare stance by the rulers of the nation which has been facing persistent international pressure for taking such a measure after forcibly coming to power in 2021.

Sher Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban deputy foreign minister, said the restrictions imposed on women's education were not as per the Islamic Sharia Law, a rare rebuke of the policy which forced the government to face widespread international isolation.

While delivering a speech during an event over the weekend, the Minister was quoted as saying by Tolo News: "Today, out of a population of forty million, we are committing injustice against twenty million people. Will we not be gathered in the same way on the Day of Judgment?"

"Where we will all be paralyzed. We have deprived them of all their rights; they have no inheritance rights, no share in determining their husband's rights, they are sacrificed in forced marriages, they are not allowed to study, they cannot go to mosques, the doors of universities and schools are closed to them, and they are not allowed in religious schools either," he said.

He asked the top Talibani officials to reopen the education institutes for girls.

This was the strongest public criticism of the policy by a Taliban leader since it came to power in 2021.

According to reports, the order was put in place by the supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada.

Apart from schools, the Taliban regime also shut down university education for women in 2022.