Malala pleads with world to protect Afghan girls' education

FILE PHOTO: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai poses for photographs during the Education and Development G7 Ministers Summit in Paris, France, July 5, 2019. Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan as she left school in 2012, pleaded with the world on Friday not to compromise on the protection of Afghan women's rights following the Taliban takeover.

As countries and organizations take the first steps to engage with the hardline Islamist group, the 24-year-old Yousafzai said she worried the Taliban would act as they did when they were in power 20 years ago despite a sharp increase in work and education opportunities for Afghan women since then.