Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered an indefinite ban on university education for the country’s women, the ministry of higher education said in a letter issued to all government and private universities.
“You all are informed to implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” said the letter signed by the minister for higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter, confirmed the order in a text message to Agence France-Presse.
The Taliban barred most girls from going to school when it came to power. Late last year, the Taliban dismissed thousands of Afghan women from government jobs and prevented them from travelling alone unless accompanied by a male relative. Women are also again required to wear head-to-toe burqas in public
While they had repeatedly promised the international community that the ban was temporary, in March the group abruptly reneged on a promise to allow most girls back to school. The decision was made so suddenly that many female students had returned to class when their teachers were forced to kick them out. Many students broke down in tears.
Taliban Putting the ban in the context
Researchers and Western diplomats who maintain contacts with high-level Taliban officials say the ban on girls attending school came from the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada and a handful of other ultra-hardliners who surround him.
“I genuinely think that the man in charge thinks that this is what an Islamic society ought to look like,” Baheer says, referring to Akhundzada. “And he had this very specific view of where women or young girls should be within the society, which is within their households. So I guess for all intents and purposes, this is a gender apartheid. This is nothing short of that.
The ban on nearly all education for women comes amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Most Afghans are skipping meals because they do not have enough money to buy food. The international community has not recognized the Taliban’s rule and is still imposing sanctions on the country, which has imperiled the economy
