Malala Yousafzai tells Muslim leaders not to 'legitimise' Taliban

Islamabad, Jan 12, 2025 -Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders on Sunday not to "legitimise" the Afghan Taliban government and to "show true leadership" by opposing their curbs on women and girls' education.

"Do not legitimise them," she told education officials 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," said 27-year-old Yousafzai.


Delegates from Afghanistan's Taliban government did not attend the two-day 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 Pakistani Taliban when she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2012, amid her campaigning for female education rights.