Afghanistan: Women Banned from Attending Universities

(Patria) - Taliban rulers in Afghanistan on Tuesday banned female students from attending universities. The decision took effect immediately, the latest decree restricting women's rights and freedoms. Despite initially promising a more moderate rule that respects the rights of women and minorities, the Taliban have largely implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, AP reports.

The Taliban have banned girls from attending primary and secondary school, barred women from working in most professions, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women have also been banned from entering parks and gyms.

The decision was announced after a government meeting. In a letter distributed by the spokesman of the Ministry of Higher Education, Ziaullah Hashmi, private and public universities were told to implement the ban as soon as possible and to inform the ministry when the ban takes effect.

The university ban comes weeks after Afghan girls took their final exams, although they have been barred from classrooms since the Taliban took over the country last year.

"I cannot fulfill my dreams, my hopes. Everything is disappearing before my eyes and I can do nothing about it," said a third-year journalism and communication student at Nangarhar University. She did not wish to be identified for fear of reprisal.

"Is being a girl a crime? If that is the case, I wish I were not a girl," she added. "My father dreamed for me, that his daughter would become a talented journalist in the future. That is now destroyed. So, tell me, how will a person feel in this situation?"

She added that she has not yet lost all hope. "God willing, I will continue my studies in any way. I am starting online studies. And if that doesn't work, I will have to leave the country and go to another," she said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the decision, calling it another "broken promise" by the Taliban and a "very worrying" move.

"It is hard to imagine how a country can develop, deal with all the challenges it has, without the active participation of women and education," Guterres said.

Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador to the United Nations, said the Taliban cannot expect to become a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans.