Help Afghan girls: Malala’s plea to Blinken

Washington/Kabul: Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has delivered a message from Sotooda Forotan, an Afghan school girl, to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, seeking the help of the Biden administration for girls in the strife-torn country gain access to education.

Foratan, who is 15 years old, was recently listed as one of the “25 most influential women of 2021” by the UK’s Financial Times. The teenager was named on the list after she took a stand against the Taliban govt decision to ban girls from schools after the hardline Islamists seized power in Kabul. Yousafzai met Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials in the State Department and read Foratan’s letter and urged Blinken to pass it on to President Joe Biden. In the letter, Foratan called on Blinken and Biden to help Afghan girls gain access to education. -(AP)