Taliban Bars Women From Universities In Afghanistan

Kabul: Radical outfit Taliban, which is ruling Afghanistan, has passed an order banning women from universities in the country. On Wednesday, girls in their hijabs turned up to their university campuses only to be blocked and turned away by Taliban guards.

After excluding girls from most secondary schools for the past 16 months, the Taliban this week also banned university education for women.

Authorities issued the order on Tuesday and by Wednesday all other places of learning, including Islamic religious schools and private tuition colleges in several provinces, were also carrying out the ruling.

Sources from three provinces – Takhar in the north, Ghazni in the south-east and the capital Kabul – confirmed that the Taliban had stopped girls from attending private education centres there.

All avenues of formal education for women are being shut down, it appears. Some

women dared to protest on Wednesday on the streets in Kabul – a dangerous act given the Taliban’s record for detaining protesters. The small demonstrations were quickly shut down by Taliban officials.

This generation had thought they were the lucky ones – getting the education denied to their mothers, older sisters and cousins. Instead, they’re seeing their future crumble.

The Taliban, which began as a hardline Islamist militant group, had promised to respect women’s rights when they swept back to power in August last year – after the horrors of their previous rule from 1996-2001 when women couldn’t work or study.

But their latest decree again strips away whatever scant freedoms and rights had been afforded to women after US-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban returned.

Yet only three months ago, the Taliban had conceded to allowing university entrance exams to go ahead. Thousands of girls and women sat the tests in provinces across the country. Many had studied in secret – at home or risking venturing to hidden tutoring colleges set up for girls.