No more university education for women under Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

The Taliban is continuing its relentless campaign to chip away at women’s rights in Afghanistan. Yesterday, the terror group banned women from universities.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education said the move was to go into effect immediately.

Afghan women are now mourning the loss of education, which was a lifeline for many under Afghanistan’s deeply patriarchal society. One university student told the BBC that the Taliban had “destroyed the only bridge that could connect me with my future.”

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, women have already largely been stripped from public life, and women’s education has been devastated. Classrooms are now gender-segregated, and women have only been allowed to be taught by female professors, or elderly men.

In March this year, the Taliban barred girls from secondary school.

In May, the Taliban announced that Afghan women must cover their face, hair and body in public. According to the Taliban, woman should ideally wear a burqa, an all-encompassing garment which leaves only the hands and feet visible with netting over the eyes for vision. The Taliban said the decree is a “recommendation,” rather than a rule, but said the male guardians of women who do not comply will be punished.

Last month, the Taliban banned women from parks, gyms, and swimming pools.

The most basic human rights are continuing to deteriorate in all areas of life in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, public executions returned to Afghanistan, with the first officially-confirmed public execution since US-led forces allowed the Taliban to assume control of the country last year.

There have also been public floggings in Afghanistan, with victims found guilty of crimes including adultery, robbery and homosexuality, according to Taliban officials. Twelve people, including three women, were flogged in front of a rapt crowd of thousands of onlookers at a football stadium last month. Nineteen people also received judicial beatings in the northern Takhar province last month.

The Taliban continues to pull Afghanistan into a downward spiral, and women and girls are a primary target.