Four years after the Taliban excluded girls and women in Afghanistan from secondary and higher education, the regime shut down the internet, depriving them of one of their last opportunities to learn. What started as a ban in a few provinces to “prevent immoral activities” escalated to a nationwide internet blackout on September 29. While access was restored on October 1, many Afghans say that service remains slow and unstable.

The nearly 2.2 million Afghan girls barred from attending school beyond the primary level now live in fear that they will lose their last lifeline to an education. Remote learning is one of the few available alternatives (together with underground and homeschooling) for these girls to receive a secondary education while remaining in the country.

Over the last four

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