An activist who fights for women’s right to education in the Middle East pleaded to Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the U.S. to help Afghan girls return to school.

Following the Taliban’s abrupt takeover of Afghanistan, girls over the age of 12 have been prohibited from continuing to learn. Education rights activist Malala Yousafzai spoke at the State Department Monday urging the U.S. to do something about Afghan girls’ inability to receive a full education.

“We know that Afghanistan right now is the only country where girls do not have access to secondary education,” Yousafzai said at the State Department in front of Blinken. “I have been working together with Afghan girls and women’s activists and there’s this one message from them that they should be given the right to work, they should be able to go to school.”

Yousafzai went on to read a letter written to President Joe Biden from a 15-year-old Afghan girl.

“The longer schools and universities remain closed to girls the more our shared hope for our future fades,” she read from the letter. “As a girl and a human being I need you to know that I have rights, women and girls have rights, Afghans have the right to live in peace, go to school and play.”

Yousafzai noted the 15-year-old’s letter was emblematic of how Afghan girls are feeling right now.

“We want to see a world where all girls can have access to safe and quality education,” Yousafzai said as she turned to look at Blinken, “and we hope that the U.S. – together with the UN – will take immediate actions to ensure that girls are allowed to go back to their schools as soon as possible, women are able to go back to work, and all the humanitarian assistance that is needed for education there is provided.”