Female university students in Afghanistan were turned away from campuses on Wednesday after the Taliban-run administration said women would be suspended from tertiary education.
The decision to bar women was announced on Tuesday evening in a letter to universities from the higher education ministry, drawing condemnation from foreign governments and the United Nations.
“We went to university, the Taliban were at the gate and told us ‘you are not allowed to enter the university until further notice’ … everyone was crying,” said Shaista, a business studies student at a private university in Kabul.
Students and Reuters witnesses said that the presence of security forces outside universities was higher than usual and female students were told to leave by armed Taliban forces, even if they were going to complete administrative tasks.
The bar on women students is likely to complicate the Taliban administration’s efforts to gain international recognition and to get rid of sanctions that are severely hampering the economy.
The U.N.’s mission in Afghanistan asked the Taliban-run administration to “immediately” revoke the decision.
It also urged the authorities to reopen girls’ schools beyond the sixth grade and “end all measures preventing women and girls from participating fully in daily public life”.
Hasti, a third-year political studies student, was preparing for her final exam scheduled for Wednesday when she heard the news, and spent the evening crying in front of her study materials instead.
“I have done my best to study, it is very hard for me, because right now I have to stop my studying and my goals are not achievable…. if the situation continues like this for women, it means women and girls are being buried alive,” she said.
