In its latest crackdown on women’s rights, the Taliban on Tuesday banned women from universities across Afghanistan.
Following a cabinet meeting, Ministry of Higher Education spokesperson Ziaullah Hashmi presented a letter mandating public and private universities to bar women from entering educational institutions.
Female students were reportedly informed by their universities to stop attending classes yesterday.
The announcement comes just two weeks after Afghan women were allowed to sit for high school graduation exams despite being banned from classrooms since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.
The Taliban said the change was necessary to protect “national interests” and women’s “honour.”
2/2 This is an important moment for the world: We must unite and oppose these policies in the strongest terms. We must stand with Afghan women.
— U.S. Special Representative Thomas West (@US4AfghanPeace) December 20, 2022
A few women held a protest in Kabul yesterday but were rapidly dispersed by the Taliban.
A journalism student at Nangarhar University quoted by the Associated Press said she would continue to study online or move to another country.
Several world leaders, too, raised alarms about the new ban.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres said the announcement was a “very troubling” move that marked another “broken promise” from the Taliban. He opined that it would be difficult for Afghanistan to address its humanitarian and economic challenges without the “active participation of women.”
In this regard, in a press conference one day prior to the announcement, Guterres urged that the Taliban must protect Afghan women’s right to work and education “without discrimination.”
BREAKING: The Taliban have banned women from universities.
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) December 20, 2022
This is a shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan. The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don't respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women. pic.twitter.com/Ydf13rvsbF
United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of serious “consequences,” saying the Taliban “cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all in Afghanistan.” In this regard, he noted that Afghanistan is already missing out on $1 billion in annual humanitarian aid due to the Taliban’s “inexcusable restrictions.” He remarked that the group has imposed a number of “repressive edicts” since coming to power and stressed that “no country can thrive when half of its population is held back.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price echoed Blinken’s concerns, saying the Taliban’s “draconian and barbaric” decision will “carry concrete costs.”
In a similar vein, US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienna Watson asserted that the Taliban has further alienated itself from the international community and weakened its argument to be considered a legitimate power.
Human Rights Watch, too, released a statement on Tuesday calling the decision “shameful” and saying it violates women’s right to education. It stressed that the announcement shows that the regime doesn’t respect fundamental rights.
Obaidullah Baheer, the founder of the Let Afghan Girls Learn campaign, said that even those who support the decision have been “very passive,” highlighting “tensions within the Taliban.” He also said that the international community’s insistence on the Taliban reforming itself has not worked and has instead “appeased” and “emboldened” the group.
Against this backdrop, the UN Security Council held a special session on Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Guterres’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said during the meeting that the Taliban continues to ignore the concerns of the international community, with discussions on the recognition of the Taliban reaching “an impasse.”
US deputy ambassador to the UN Robert Wood emphasised that the international community would not recognise the Taliban unless it respects the rights of all Afghans, describing the latest decision as “absolutely indefensible.”
Despite classes for the semester having already ended, #Taliban seem to have deployed enforcers outside universities to deny #women entry. It is becoming evident that unlike the #school #ban, this one will be enforced absolutely. #LetAfghanGirlsLearn
— Obaidullah Baheer (@ObaidullaBaheer) December 21, 2022
Likewise, British UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said the announcement is “another egregious curtailment of women’s rights and a deep profound disappointment for every single female student.” She added that it would push Afghanistan further away from self-reliance and prosperity.
Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada and his close aides have often expressed opposition to women’s education. He appointed hardliner Nida Mohammad Nadim as the Minister of Higher Education and has relied on the advice of other ultraconservative religious leaders.
In fact, just this Monday, Minister of Vice and Virtue Mohammad Khalid Hanafi said the world’s definition of gender rights is unacceptable for the group. To this end, he affirmed that the Taliban would protect women’s rights as per the core tenets of Islamic law.
Universities in Afghanistan have segregated classrooms since February, allowing women to be taught only by female professors and older men. While the Taliban allowed thousands of women to sit for university entrance exams, it barred them from studying engineering, economics, and agriculture. Meanwhile, admissions into journalism were heavily restricted.
The #Taliban Higher Education Minister Mulawi Nida Muhammad Nadeem says Among the #mujahideen , anyone who has carried out many explosions, we do not take the university exam from him.
— Abdulhaq Omeri (@AbdulhaqOmeri) December 4, 2022
pic.twitter.com/Pr0wfGQAFu
Taliban officials cited by Al Jazeera have claimed that the latest ban is merely temporary, citing funding shortages and the need to realign the syllabus with Islamic principles.
However, it made similar claims after banning girls from attending high school back in March. In May, it promised that it would be announcing “good news” in this regard very soon, but, as of December, girls are still not allowed into educational institutions beyond primary school.
Despite promising that it would not introduce the repressive policies that characterised its rule in the 1990s, the Taliban has gone back on its word and launched several attacks on human rights and women’s rights.
Over the past few months, Afghan women have been barred from travelling long distances without a male chaperone, barred from workplaces, banned from obtaining driving licenses, and ordered to cover their faces from head to toe in public spaces. It has also eliminated the Ministry of Women and replaced it with the Ministry of Vice and Virtue.
In November, the Taliban also announced a ban on women’s entry into parks and gyms.
The West insists that it will only consider removing sanctions if the Taliban commits to improving human rights, particularly those of women and girls, and ensuring that Afghan soil is not used by terrorists. This has severely crippled the war-torn country’s economy, given that it has historically depended on foreign aid for over 80% of its budget. It also remains unable to access around $10 billion in frozen central bank assets.