Taliban Ban Women From Universities

In a further restriction to women’s rights in Afghanistan, women have been banned from universities. The ban was confirmed to CNN by a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education, who said the ban will go into effect immediately. 

The regression of women’s rights is the latest in a series of moves made by the Taliban in line with their hardline interpretation of Sharia law. The Taliban were in power in Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, when they were forced out by a U.S.-led invasion. After two decades of occupation, U.S. forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, with large majorities of Americans “expressing negative views of the Biden administration’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan,” according to Pew Research Center. Disapproval largely centered around criticism that Biden should have started the evacuations earlier or in a more orderly manner. Within ten days of the American troop withdrawal, the Taliban had laid siege to the country, regaining power with shocking speed.

The Human Rights Watch, an international organization that investigates and reports on abuse around the world, called the draconian decision to ban women from universities “a shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan.” In response to the ban, women took to the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, to protest, chanting slogans like “Do not make education political!” Male students and teachers joined the protest, with some teachers resigning from their jobs and some students walking out of exams.

The Taliban, just one year into their new reign, have banned girls from universities, middle and high school, parks, and gyms. They have been forbidden to work for NGOs, which has caused some international organizations to halt operations. Women are forced to wear head-to-toe clothing in public, in line with a strict interpretation of Islam favored by the Taliban.