Acting Minister of Higher Education in the Afghan government, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, said on Sunday that women in Afghanistan can study in universities and pursue higher studies, provided that the sexes are separated in the classroom and that they wear headscarves.
Haqqani announced the new education policies during a press conference days after the Taliban formed a new government that did not include women.
He said the government would not allow co-education, but would allow girls to study at universities - including at higher levels of study - on the condition that women's classes are segregated from men.
Haqqani stated that female students must adhere to the Islamic dress code to study in universities, while he did not specify what form of hijab he intended, and whether it would also require a face covering or not.
He pointed out that the Taliban does not want to turn back the clock 20 years, saying: We will start building on what exists today.
next steps
The minister also made it clear that the curricula would also be reviewed, and while he did not go into details he indicated that he wanted Afghan university graduates to be competitive with university graduates in the region and the rest of the world.
Haqqani stressed that the government will continue education from where the educational process stopped in the country, "with few changes, and we will not start from scratch, and there is no going back."
"We have scientific cadres inside and outside the country, and we seek to use them in various educational fields and pave the way for them to serve the country," he added.
He also indicated that his government seeks to bring aid from countries - especially Islamic ones that want to build good relations with Afghanistan - in developing the education path, and benefiting from their experiences.
"We want to send Afghan youths to other countries through educational grants, while observing efficiency and complete transparency," he added.
Before the Taliban movement took power, universities were mixed, and female students did not have to abide by the dress code, but the vast majority of them chose to wear the veil in line with tradition.
Since the movement took power last month, the world has been watching closely to see how its treatment of women will differ from its first rule in the late 1990s, when girls and women were deprived of education and excluded from public life at the time.
And yesterday, Saturday, the Taliban raised their flag over the presidential palace, in a sign of the start of the work of the new government.
On August 15, the Taliban took control of the capital, Kabul, in less than 10 days, prompting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country.
On the same day, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said - in statements to the British "BBC" network (BBC) - that the movement will allow women to learn and work, and of course they will wear the veil.