Susanna Fioretti, founder of the Italian humanitarian organization Nove Caring Humans, revealed in an interview with Corriere della Sera that daughters of de facto Taliban members have been attending an underground girls’ school operated by her NGO in Afghanistan.
Following the August 2021 return to power and subsequent bans on female secondary and higher education, Fioretti established a clandestine classroom disguised as a tailoring workshop, complete with hidden sewing machines to avoid detection during unexpected searches. Two years into the covert program, organizers discovered that several students were children of de facto officials whose parents secretly sought formal education for their daughters.
Covert Operation and Internal Regime Friction
The revelation highlights deep ideological rifts between the Kandahar-based leadership’s draconian decrees and the private desires of individual cadre members:
- Disguised Classrooms: To survive strict inspections by de facto morality police, students were instructed to quickly conceal notebooks and pens and pretend to practice sewing whenever security personnel approached.
- Private Resistance: Addressing concerns regarding potential informants, Fioretti clarified that the students were not spies but daughters of Taliban affiliates. She noted that a faction of de facto members privately opposes the total ban on female education and seeks subtle ways to circumvent rules imposed by supreme leadership.
- Extreme Security Risks: Operating covert educational facilities carries severe risks of detention and retaliation from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice if exposed.
Pragmatic Dialogue for Female Economic Inclusion
Beyond covert education, Nove Caring Humans has engaged in delicate negotiations with de facto authorities to advance women’s economic participation. Fioretti recently launched the “Women Business Prize Afghanistan” initiative to recognize and fund female entrepreneurs, persuading skeptical ministry officials that women-led micro-enterprises bolster the national economy.
The existence of Taliban families seeking underground education for their daughters underscores an enduring paradox within the regime: while the leadership enforces the world’s most restrictive policies against women, even internal cadres privately reject the complete erasure of female education.