Reuters World News - Fading dreams inside Kabul's madrasas

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

We visit Afghanistan’s madrasas – the only educational option for teenage girls. The road ahead for Erdogan and Assad after the quake. Plus the latest from North Korea on the birthday anniversary of late leader Kim Jong Il. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, our reporter takes us inside Afghanistan's madrasas, where religious schools are the only option for teenage girls seeking an education under the Taliban. The older girls are just starting to arrive. They've greeted their friends, sat down and unpacked copies of the Quran from their handbags. And the political aftershocks from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria are still reverberating. It's Thursday, February 16.

This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vinal in London. Convierre your passion in a business with Shopify and bathe records of ventas with the form of pay with a better conversion of the world. Has you heard it. The incredible system of Pago of Shopify facilitates the company on your site web, in the networks and in whatever place. That is music for your ears.

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a month in Shopify.es bar records. We start in North Korea with celebrations for the birthday of late leader Kim Jong-il

with flowers and music. It comes on a day of heightened tension in the region. Neighbor South Korea described Pyongyang as its enemy for the first time

in six years. As an unease grows over North Korea's growing nuclear arsenal, there are also fears of a worsening food shortage. Reuters Korea Bureau Chief Jack Kim explains. We've been seeing reports recently warning that North Korea's food security situation is in the worst state ever,

the worst state since the deadly famine the country had in the 1990s. Still, amid all the economic hardship, North Korea presses on with these weapons program. As a top national security goal, it has talked about the development of new ballistic missiles, bigger intercontinental ballistic missiles, and a larger nuclear arsenal, as well as new and more sophisticated tactical weapons. In Buffalo, New York, families of victims who were killed by a white supremacist are overwhelmed by emotion in the courtroom for his sentencing.

At one point, a man lunging at Peyton Gendron, after he apologized, for shooting 10 black people last year. Jendron was sentenced to life in prison in the hearing, presided by Erie County Court Judge Susan Egan. There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances. Jendron could still receive a death sentence

if convicted of pending federal hate crime and firearms charges, to which he's pleaded not guilty. Russia attacks Ukraine with nighttime mistime. strikes. A new development as Moscow ramps up attacks ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion. Ukraine only managed to shoot down half of the rockets, a lower rate than normal. With Kiev under immense pressure, it's renewed its pleas for fighter jets from the West. Ukraine's defense minister, Olexky Reznikov, is confident he will get military support from Western allies. I'm a little bit joking that in my wish list to Santa, I have some

points and I would say that probably fighter jets is the last point because we have artillery systems 155, we have MLRS systems different types with the hymers, we have infantry fighting vehicles or armed personal carriers, we have main battle tanks and we need aircrafts. Alexei Reznikov in an interview with our Brussels Bureau. It's risk on in global equity markets. investors are taking strong retail data out of the US as a sign of better times ahead. Retail sales rose by the most in nearly two years in January. That's dampening fears of a recession or even a soft landing.

And his stocks up in Asia, Europe and pointing north in the United States. Not even weak trade data out of Tokyo can dampen the mood. Japan recorded the largest monthly trade deficit on record after exports slowed sharply in January. An aid convoy crosses into opposite. held northwest Syria, carrying blankets, food and medicine. Reuters were on the ground to witness the trucks cross over from Dera-Azor. Organized by Arab tribes, it's a rare success story of aid making it across the front lines of the country's civil war, even since the deadly earthquake.

With tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, Turkey and Syria are facing years of recovery from the recent earthquake. Both countries face political challenges two of slightly different kinds. I'm joined now by our Middle East editor, Samir Nakul. Samya, how is Syria and Turkey balancing dealing with the devastation, but also playing global politics? Assad has used this for his political gain.

He didn't open the crossing until yesterday, one crossing after eight days. He made everybody almost urge him, beg him to open the crossing. So he showed that he benefited from this crisis in kind of recognition, What he wants a return, probably rehabilitation, probably lifting of sanctions, reconstruction of Syria. We don't know what's going on yet, what he's going to get out of it.

Of course, you know, Erdogan has blamed, you know, he said some people did not abide by the construction rules. He is trying to appeal to his people that it is a national disaster, it's Godwill. Nothing could have been done about it, but of course there is a lot of anger in the streets of Turkey. So he admitted that there has been a delay in the response. But he's trying to say to the people it's a national disaster and that hit Turkey. What can I do? I know he said any country would struggle with a disaster of this scale. He wants to put off elections unsurprisingly.

Can he do that? Normally you put elections, you delay it if there is a war. This is unprecedented. They have a national disaster. But logistically, it might be very difficult to organize election. you know, a large chunk of his country has been devastated by the earthquake. Even the opposition is not talking about election on time. Is this Assad being brought back to the negotiating table?

I mean, opening the border for aid. What does this mean for his relationships with the West? And what does it mean for the conflict? There has definitely been an overture for Assad, a kind of recognition, that he's the legitimate leader of Syria. We saw the UAE foreign minister visiting him. The Jordanian foreign minister is visiting him. the Egyptian president has contacted him, but again, you know,

the United States is still putting him under sanction and the Western nation. So they have to lift sanction in order to completely negotiate with him and rehabilitate him, which you haven't seen that yet. All right. Thank you so much, Samia. In Afghanistan, teenage girls have been banned from high school and university by the Taliban. They're so desperate for any kind of education and the chance to get out of the house that they're going to religious schools. Charlotte Greenfield went to Kabul to visit a madrasser.

She filed this report in between classes. I've just stepped outside so as not to distract the students. In a underground basement room, there are about 30 students with two teachers. They share copies of the Quran, which they are reading from. And one by one, the girls are going up to the front of the class to practice their readings with their teachers. Many in the West might think of madrasas in connection with militancy or as a breeding ground for extremism. But people who live in the region say there's a lot more nuance than that.

In some cases, they might be the only option of any education and a meal for children living in poor areas. In other cases, there are more moderate madrasas, like this one, where children learn about religious texts and a little bit of Arabic. and how to discuss philosophical, spiritual ideas. Charlotte meets Marjan, a 16-year-old attending the madrasa. She says the schools need to reopen so that girls like her can become doctors and engineers. We spoke to a spokesman for the Taliban's Information Ministry.

He told us that the administration is not opposed to girls having education, but there are several issues that need to be over. such as some mixed gender institutions or girls not meeting some interpretations of Islamic dress. We've just come from a girls madrasa here in Kandahar. It's part of a pretty famous system of madrasas and Islamic learning. Broiders was given rare access, but we were asked not to record for cultural reasons. The province is considered one of the more conservative areas of the country. It's the historical birthplace of the Taliban movement, and it's the home,

of the Islamic Emirates Supreme Spiritual Leader. Inside a small compound, there are around 11 classrooms nestled around a courtyard. Inside the classes, the girls would sit on the floor, often with copies of the Quran or other religious texts that they're learning. At the front of the class, they had a female teacher, and in the older girls' classes, there's a laptop and a stereo system set up. You can hear the sound of their male teacher, religious scholars, but they don't interact with them directly. If the girls have any questions, they email the teacher to provide instruction. Many of the students and teachers wanted to stress to us that they really valued their Islamic education. But many also said that they did hope that girls' schools would reopen.

Most of them said they wanted both modern subjects like maths and science, as well as religious education. This is Charlotte Greenfield in Kandahar. And that is it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, you can find more trusted news atroiter's.com.