Former British Prime Minister and United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown has called on the international community to take concrete action to protect Afghan girls from forced marriage and educational exclusion, proposing the creation of a global fund to provide scholarships and educational opportunities for those most at risk.
Writing in an opinion article published ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, Brown argued that the international community has failed to respond effectively as the Taliban have steadily tightened restrictions on women and girls through what he described as a series of increasingly repressive decrees.
According to Brown, Afghanistan has become one of the world’s harshest environments for women and girls, with sweeping restrictions preventing them from attending secondary schools and universities, working in most public-sector jobs, participating in many non-governmental organizations and exercising basic freedoms of movement.
The former British prime minister also highlighted the issue of child marriage, alleging that Taliban policies have created conditions in which forced marriages and domestic violence have become increasingly difficult to challenge. Citing assessments by United Nations observers, Brown said the systematic restrictions imposed on Afghan women and girls amount to what has been described as “gender apartheid.”
Brown referred to the reported shooting of women’s rights protesters in Herat in June, saying the incident received insufficient international attention. According to reports, two people, including a teenage girl, were killed while several others were injured after demonstrators marched demanding freedom, access to education and an end to restrictions imposed on women.
He also cited the reported case of a 15-year-old Afghan girl who, along with her mother, was allegedly killed by a Taliban official after resisting a forced marriage, presenting it as an example of the dangers faced by girls deprived of legal protection and educational opportunities.
Brown argued that despite more than two decades of international military and financial involvement in Afghanistan, including expenditures exceeding one trillion dollars and the deployment of hundreds of thousands of coalition personnel, the global community has been unable to safeguard the most basic rights of Afghan women and girls following the Taliban’s return to power.
The former British leader emphasized that education remains the single most effective safeguard against child marriage, noting that international research consistently shows that every additional year of schooling significantly reduces the likelihood of girls being forced into early marriages. While acknowledging that some Afghan girls continue learning through online classes, home-based education and informal secret schools, he said such efforts remain limited and cannot replace access to formal education.
Drawing comparisons with regional examples, Brown pointed to measures adopted in Pakistan and Bangladesh to combat child marriage. He cited the criminalization of underage marriage in Pakistan’s Sindh province, improvements in birth registration systems in Bangladesh and financial assistance programmes designed to keep children in school. According to Brown, these initiatives demonstrate that child marriage is not simply a cultural issue but is closely linked to poverty, weak legal enforcement and the denial of education.
Brown also referred to recently announced British initiatives that offer limited pathways for Afghan girls through relocation programmes managed by charitable organizations and scholarship opportunities at universities in the United Kingdom. However, he described these efforts as insufficient in view of the scale of the crisis.
To address the growing challenges, Brown proposed establishing a dedicated international fund capable of financing scholarships, relocation assistance and educational programmes for Afghan girls facing the risk of forced marriage or permanent exclusion from education. He said he is prepared to work with educational institutions, charitable organizations and international partners to help implement such an initiative.
Concluding his appeal, Brown described support for Afghan girls as a moral responsibility for the international community, urging governments, international organizations and donors to move beyond expressions of concern and provide meaningful assistance to girls who continue to risk their safety and freedom in pursuit of an education and a better future.
