<p>Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Pakistani Taliban as a schoolgirl, has urged Afghanistan's new rulers to let girls return to school.</p>.<p>It has been one month since the hardline Islamist Taliban, which seized power in August, excluded girls from returning to secondary school while ordering boys back to class.</p>.<p>The Taliban have claimed they will allow girls to return once they have ensured security and stricter segregation under their interpretation of Islamic law -- but many are sceptical.</p>.<p>"To the Taliban authorities...reverse the de facto ban on girls' education and re-open girls' secondary schools immediately," Yousafzai and a number of Afghan women's rights activists said in an open letter published on Sunday.</p>.<p>Yousafzai called on the leaders of Muslim nations to make it clear to the Taliban that "religion does not justify preventing girls from going to school".</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/taliban-to-announce-secondary-school-for-girls-very-soon-un-official-1041103.html" target="_blank">Taliban to announce secondary school for girls 'very soon': UN official</a></strong></p>.<p>"Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that forbids girls' education," said the writers, who included the head of the Afghan human rights commission under the last US-backed government Shaharzad Akbar.</p>.<p>The authors called on G20 world leaders to provide urgent funding for an education plan for Afghan children.</p>.<p>A petition alongside the letter had on Monday received more than 640,000 signatures.</p>.<p>Education activist Yousafzai was shot by militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban, in her home town in the Swat valley while on a school bus in 2012.</p>.<p>Now 24 years old, she advocates for girls' education, with her non-profit Malala Fund having invested $2 million in Afghanistan.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos</strong></p>
<p>Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Pakistani Taliban as a schoolgirl, has urged Afghanistan's new rulers to let girls return to school.</p>.<p>It has been one month since the hardline Islamist Taliban, which seized power in August, excluded girls from returning to secondary school while ordering boys back to class.</p>.<p>The Taliban have claimed they will allow girls to return once they have ensured security and stricter segregation under their interpretation of Islamic law -- but many are sceptical.</p>.<p>"To the Taliban authorities...reverse the de facto ban on girls' education and re-open girls' secondary schools immediately," Yousafzai and a number of Afghan women's rights activists said in an open letter published on Sunday.</p>.<p>Yousafzai called on the leaders of Muslim nations to make it clear to the Taliban that "religion does not justify preventing girls from going to school".</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/taliban-to-announce-secondary-school-for-girls-very-soon-un-official-1041103.html" target="_blank">Taliban to announce secondary school for girls 'very soon': UN official</a></strong></p>.<p>"Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that forbids girls' education," said the writers, who included the head of the Afghan human rights commission under the last US-backed government Shaharzad Akbar.</p>.<p>The authors called on G20 world leaders to provide urgent funding for an education plan for Afghan children.</p>.<p>A petition alongside the letter had on Monday received more than 640,000 signatures.</p>.<p>Education activist Yousafzai was shot by militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban, in her home town in the Swat valley while on a school bus in 2012.</p>.<p>Now 24 years old, she advocates for girls' education, with her non-profit Malala Fund having invested $2 million in Afghanistan.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos</strong></p>