In the most harsh move in its crackdown on Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, the Taliban administration has banned university education for all female students.
The suspension was verified to CNN on Tuesday by a representative of the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting, according to a letter released by the ministry of education, and the order will take effect right away.
After the Taliban forced girls’ schools to close just hours before they were scheduled to reopen following months-long shutdown imposed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, girls were forbidden from returning to secondary schools in March.
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch decried the restriction, calling it a “shameful move that violates women and girls in Afghanistan’s access to education.”
The rights monitor stated in a statement that “the Taliban are making it apparent every day that they do not respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women.”
Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, said during a briefing on Tuesday that the United States denounces “the Taliban’s indefensible decision to bar women from colleges.”
He claimed that the Taliban’s most recent action would “have substantial ramifications for the Taliban, further alienate the Taliban from the international community, and deny them the credibility they seek.”
The US’s interaction with Taliban representatives was “significantly impacted” by the March ban on girls attending secondary schools, Price continued.
With the implementation of this directive, he predicted that half of Afghans will soon be denied access to education past the primary level.
In a previous statement to the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Robert Wood, the alternate representative for special political affairs, reiterated those criticisms, saying that the Taliban “cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls.”
Women have historically been treated as second-class citizens by the Taliban, who ruled over Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 when the US-led invasion drove the group from power. Women were subjected to violence, forced marriages, and a virtually invisible presence in the nation.
The Taliban made an effort to present a more moderate image after capturing control of Afghanistan last year in an effort to win foreign support.
But after repeatedly promising the international community that it will uphold the rights of women and girls, the Taliban has instead been gradually restricting their liberties.
Women in Afghanistan are no longer permitted to work in the majority of industries, long distance travel now requires a male guardian, and they must cover their faces in public.
Along with restricting women’s access to specific jobs and limiting girls’ educational opportunities, they have taken away the rights that they had fought tenaciously for over the previous two decades.
Afghan women were barred from Kabul’s theme parks in November after the government issued limitations on women’s access to public parks.
