KABUL, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's new educational year formally started Thursday with beating the bill by President Hamid Karzai in a local school here in the Afghan capital.

    "There is no bigger enmity and cruelty than preventing Afghan girls and boys from going to school," Karzai told an audience of hundreds of people including teachers in his opening remarks.

    Currently over 6 million children, with 35 percent of them girls, go to school while 5.3 million more are said to have been deprived of education due to security and social problems.

    During Talban reign collapsed in late 2001, only boys were allowed to attend schools.

    Over 200 schools mostly in the southern region where Taliban are active have been closed down due to security problems over the past couple of years.