Taliban Bar Afghan Women From Pursuing University Education

Schoolgirls sit at the schoolyard in Herat on Aug. 17, 2021, following the Taliban takeover of the country. Aref Karimi/AFP via Getty Images

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan on Dec. 20 barred women from attending universities in its latest decree to restrict Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, sparking an international outcry.

The Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education reportedly shared a letter informing private and public universities of the cabinet’s instruction to deny access to all female students.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), which shared the letter on Twitter, denounced the Taliban’s decision as “shameful” and a violation of the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don’t respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,” HRW stated.

The move comes just weeks after the Taliban allowed Afghan girls to sit for high school graduation exams. It’s unclear what this ultimately means, as Afghan girls have been barred from attending secondary schools since the Taliban seized Afghanistan in August 2021.

Under the latest decree, the highest level of education that Afghan girls can attain is the sixth grade. Sixth-graders who passed their final exams said they feared that this would be the end of their academic journey.

“Today is a day of despair because we will not be able to go to schools anymore like other girls who are already deprived of schooling,” Husna, an Afghan sixth-grader, told TOLO News on Dec. 20.

Tayiba, another sixth-grader who excelled in her final exams, hoped that the Taliban regime would allow the reopening of secondary schools for girls so that they wouldn’t be deprived of an education.

“I cannot continue my education. Primary school is not enough for me. I am worried about my future,” she told the media outlet.

The decision is certain to hurt efforts by the Taliban to win recognition from potential international donors at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis. The international community has urged Taliban leaders to reopen schools and give women their right to public space.

Afghan women walk on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 9, 2022. Ali Khara/Reuters

Significant Consequences

The United States strongly condemned the Taliban’s “unacceptable stance” and warned that it would have “significant consequences” and denied the Taliban’s desired legitimacy.

“With the implementation of this decree, half of the Afghan population will soon be unable to access education beyond primary school,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Dec. 20.

Afghanistan already has lost more than $1 billion per year as a result of the Taliban’s restrictions on women, losses that the regime has placed on the Afghan people for the “indefinite future,” he noted.

“The Taliban permanently sentenced Afghan women to a darker and more barren future without opportunity. No country can thrive when half of its population is arbitrarily held back,” Price said.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said the Taliban won’t 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.”

U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva said in a statement that the Taliban’s decision was “devastating” and “detrimental” to Afghan women and the country as a whole.

“So many young women lost the whole academic year and now another harsh decision has been taken to ban university education. I regret that the Taliban do not seem to think about the future of Afghanistan and how women can contribute to the economy, education, and culture,” Otunbayeva said.

Afghanistan’s U.N. seat is still held by the previous government, led by former President Ashraf Ghani, despite the Taliban’s request to represent the country, which was recently deferred again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.