Since the political transition in August 2021, Afghanistan's education sector has faced an unprecedented crisis characterized by restrictive policies, funding shortfalls, and a contracting operational space for humanitarian actors. This article examines the evolving role of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in sustaining access to education amid these challenges. Drawing on document analysis of Scopus-indexed literature, recent field reports from UNESCO and UNICEF, and stakeholder interviews, the study analyzes the shifting trends in NGO engagement from 2001 to 2024. Key findings indicate that, while international NGOs successfully established a parallel infrastructure for community-based education (CBE) that reached over 1 million children, the post-2021 landscape has severely curtailed their operational capacity. The ban on girls' secondary education has forced NGOs to pivot toward primary-level support, digital learning alternatives, and localized teacher training. However, these efforts are undermined by a precipitous decline in international aid, coordination deficits, and increasing bureaucratic impediments imposed by the de facto authorities. The paper argues that sustaining educational gains requires a strategic shift toward localized partnerships, adaptive programming, and protection mechanisms for female educators. These insights offer transferable lessons for education in other fragile and conflict-affected contexts such as Yemen and South Sudan.
Abdul Noori (Thu,) studied this question.