The entire section here (p.587 to 601) is worth a read, but here are the more pertinent parts - it’s hard to escape the conclusion that it is warfare and the subsequent ascendency of the Islamist militias, and not something inherent in Afghan culture, that is the primary factor explaining the problems with female education in Afghanistan today.
The education of girls (p. 591 - https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.118.5262&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=127)
A tendency in some parts of Afghanistan to favour traditional education for girls inhibited the growth of female enrolment in schools. In 1932, the first secondary school for girls was established in Kabul and in 1941 the first provincial girls’ school was established in Kandahar. At this time there were 900 female students enrolled in Afghan public schools; by 1970, this number had risen to 92,500, 14% of the Afghan students. These students attended 231 village schools, 166 urban primary schools, forty-six middle schools and sixteen secondary schools. An additional 1,860 were enrolled in vocational, teacher-training and higher-education institutions.
In the late 1950s, some of the country’s primary schools became co-educa- tional; secondary schools remained segregated. In 1947 a Women’s Faculty, with both scientific and literary departments, was established at the University of Kabul. In 1958, as part of the modernization process, the Daoud government took mea- sures gradually to facilitate the participation of women in Afghan social, economic and cultural life. This resulted in important educational developments for the female population. In 1960, the various departments of the Women’s Faculty were inte- grated into the corresponding faculties of the university and co-education at the higher-education level was established. In the decade that followed, several Afghan women were elected to parliament and served in the government. An increasing number of female students chose teaching as a profession and contributed to the expansion of education in the country. The next two decades saw a continuing increase in the education of Afghan girls and women. But progress was halted by the conservative policies toward female education implemented by the Mujahideen (Islamic resistance) government in the 1990s. These policies were restrictive not only in relation to the progress of the previous decades but also in comparison to those followed in other Muslim countries. The schooling of girls, particularly in the rural communities, was severely affected. In 1995, the Taliban (religious students) began closing all girls’ schools in the areas under their control.
p. 593
In 1975, 24% of the country’s compulsory school age population—789,000 students, 30% of them girls—were enrolled in primary schools. During the 1960s and 1970s, Afghanistan’s primary school enrolment grew at an average annual rate of 3%, comparable to those in other Asian countries. Over the next decade, how- ever, there was a considerable reduction in primary enrolment rates because of the volatile political situation. In the 1990s, while there was some expansion of basic education for boys, schooling opportunities for girls were dramatically reduced.
