Malala tells Muslim leaders not to 'legitimize' Taliban

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders on Sunday not to "legitimize" the Afghan Taliban government and to "show true leadership" by opposing their curbs on women and girls' education.

"Do not legitimize them," she said at a summit on girls' education in Muslim nations being held in Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

"As Muslim leaders, now is the time to raise your voices, use your power. You can show true leadership. You can show true Islam," said 27-year-old Yousafzai.

The two-day conference has brought together ministers and education officials from dozens of Muslim-majority countries, backed by the Muslim World League.

Since sweeping back to power in 2021, the Taliban government has imposed an austere version of Islamic law that the United Nations has labelled "gender apartheid".

Their curbs have shut women and girls out of secondary school and university education, as well as many government jobs, and seen them sequestered out of many aspects of public life.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (2R) arrives to attend an international summit on 'Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities', in Islamabad. AFP

Delegates from Afghanistan's Taliban government did not attend the event despite being invited, Pakistan Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told AFP on Saturday.

"Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings," Yousafzai told the conference.

"They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification."

Yousafzai was shot in the face by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) when she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2012, amid her campaigning for female education rights.

Her activism earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, and she has since become a global advocate for women and girls' education rights.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (C) meets with delegation members while attending an international summit on 'Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities', in Islamabad on January 11, 2025. AFP

"The Taliban are explicit about their mission: they want to eliminate women and girls from every aspect of public life and erase them from society," she told the conference.

While there is outcry in much of the international community over the Taliban government curbs, nations are divided over how to engage with Kabul's rulers on the issue.

Some countries argue they should be frozen out of the diplomatic community until they backtrack, while others prefer engagement to coax them into a U-turn.

No country has officially recognised the Taliban authorities, but several regional governments have engaged on the topics of trade and security.

'Israel has decimated the entire education system in Gaza'

Malala also said that she would continue to call out Israel's violations of international law and human rights in Gaza. "In Gaza, Israel has decimated the entire education system," she said in an address to the conference.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (C) attends an international summit on 'Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities', in Islamabad on January 11, 2025. AFP

"They have bombed all universities, destroyed more than 90 percent of schools, and indiscriminately attacked civilians sheltering in school buildings.

"I will continue to call out Israel's violations of international law and human rights."

"Palestinian children have lost their lives and future. A Palestinian girl cannot have the future she deserves if her school is bombed and her family is killed," she added.

The war in Gaza has killed 46,537 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory considered reliable by the United Nations.