'I hide to cry': Torment of Afghan fathers as daughters deprived of education

Four years after banning girls from secondary school, Afghanistan's Taliban authorities remain the only government in the world enforcing such a rule, and Dawn reports that even devout, supportive fathers are struggling under its weight. AFP interviews described fathers losing sleep, hiding to cry, and scrambling for underground schools, home tutoring, or emigration as their daughters' options run out at sixth grade. The UN estimates at least one million girls have been directly affected, while a UN survey found nine in ten Afghan men believe secondary education matters for girls. Taliban officials call the ban temporary but did not respond to AFP's questions, leaving these families still waiting for it to end.

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