The ban on studying is now total for Afghan women.

The Taliban authorities announced on Tuesday, December 20, that Afghan universities were henceforth forbidden to them.

Girls were already deprived of secondary education in Afghanistan since the accession to power of Islamic fundamentalists.

"You are all informed of the entry into force of the mentioned order which suspends the education of women until further notice", indicated in a letter addressed to all the governmental and private universities of the country, the Minister of Education. 'Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem. 

Ministry spokesman Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter, also confirmed the order to close colleges to girls for an indefinite period, with AFP.

No explanation has yet been provided to justify this decision.

Universities are closed due to winter holidays and are expected to reopen in March.

"Not only me, but all my friends are speechless. We have no words to express our feelings. Everyone is thinking about the unknown future that awaits," reacted Madina, a student under cover of anonymity.

>> Read also: Inspired by the protests in Iran, Afghan women continue the fight

"Hope has been taken away from us. They have buried our dreams," the student told AFP in despair. 

After the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021, universities were forced to implement new rules, including to separate girls and boys during class hours. 

Women were allowed to take lessons, but only if they were taught by women or elderly men.

Multiplication of draconian measures 

The new ban comes less than three months after thousands of girls and women took university entrance exams across the country.

Many of them aspired to choose between careers in engineering or medicine, although deprived of access to secondary schools.

Upon their return to power after 20 years of war with the Americans and NATO forces, the Taliban had promised to be more flexible, but they have largely returned to the ultra-rigorous interpretation of Islam that had marked their first spell in power (1996-2001).

Between the two Taliban reigns, girls were allowed to go to school and women were able to seek employment in all sectors, even though the country remained socially conservative.

But for sixteen months, the draconian measures have multiplied in particular against women who have been gradually excluded from public life and excluded from colleges and high schools.

"We are doomed, every day. While we hoped to progress, we are ostracized from society," lamented Reha, another student.

In an unexpected about-face, on March 23, the Taliban had closed secondary schools just hours after their long-announced reopening.

Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada himself intervened in the decision, according to a senior Taliban official.

Various members of power had said that there were not enough teachers or money but also that schools would reopen once an Islamic curriculum was developed. 

Despite their exclusion from colleges and high schools, in Kabul, many young women had traveled in early December to take their final secondary school exam, necessary to qualify to enter university, journalists from the AFP. 

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Banned from public jobs, parks, sports halls...

As well as being deprived of education, women are also banned from most government jobs or paid a pittance to stay at home. 

They are also prohibited from traveling without being accompanied by a male relative and must wear a burqa or hijab when leaving their homes. 

In November, the Taliban also banned them from entering parks, gardens, sports halls and public baths.

Demonstrations by women against these measures, which rarely gather more than forty people, have become risky.

Many protesters have been arrested and journalists are increasingly prevented from covering these rallies. 

"The new restrictions extended to women's education in Afghanistan are tragic," denounced the former finance minister under the former government, Omar Zakhilwal.

"This ban has no religious, cultural or logistical basis. It is not only a serious violation of women's rights to education, but also a profound anomaly for our country!" he added in his tweet.

The international community has linked recognition of the Taliban regime and much-needed humanitarian and financial aid to Afghanistan with the Taliban's respect for human rights, especially women's rights to education and work.

The United Nations is "deeply concerned," said Ramiz Alakbarov, deputy special representative of the UN chief for Afghanistan, on Tuesday. 

"Education is a basic human right. A closed door to women's education is a closed door to Afghanistan's future," he tweeted.

With AFP

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