Girls arrive at their school in Panjshir on March 23, 2022. The Taliban ordered girls' secondary schools in Afghanistan to shut on March 23 just hours after they reopened, an official confirmed. (PHOTO / AFP)

UNITED NATIONS - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that Taliban's decision to suspend high school for girls in Afghanistan was "a profound disappointment and deeply damaging for Afghanistan."

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"The denial of education not only violates the equal rights of women and girls to education," Guterres said in a statement. "I urge the Taliban de facto authorities to open schools for all students without any further delay."