A delegation of Islamic scholars from across the Muslim world recently flew to Afghanistan to meet the country’s Taliban rulers. Their mission: to influence the Kabul regime’s policy platform.

The delegation, affiliated with the intergovernmental Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, which represents 57 states, hoped to convince the militant group to allow teenage girls to attend school. But despite citing Koranic verses as evidence of “this clear divine command”, they left with only vague affirmations of the Taliban’s intention to do so.

Days after the trip in late June, the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada — who, according to a person familiar with the visit, refused to meet the delegates — made clear his displeasure with the sustained international lobbying efforts. “They say, ‘Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that?’” he said, according to a translation of an address he gave to Afghan scholars in Kabul on July 1. “Why does the world interfere in our work?”