After Taliban’s militant-turned-government took over the country last year, universities were forced to implement gender-segregated classrooms, girls were banned from middle school and high school, women were kicked out of their jobs and banned from parks and gyms, forced to cover themselves head-to-toe lest they attract attention from the country’s ruthless morality police. Now, women are being barred from attending university altogether. The ban comes weeks after Afghan girls took their high school graduation exams; girls all over the country moved to Kabul with the hopes of enrolling in university. Those dreams are quickly disappearing, thanks to the government’s sadistic war against women.
Among the Afghan academic community, few have hope that women will be allowed to return to higher education. With so few female instructors available-and many of them still restricted from working-many women will have no classes to attend even if the ban is lifted in the foreseeable future. Despite claims to the contrary, the Taliban’s all-male cabinet has quickly readapted many of its oppressive policies from the 90s, when university activity was limited and women were prohibited from attending school altogether.
Following the American invasion in 2001, international donors poured billions into expanding Afghanistan’s colleges and universities. By 2021, there were more than 150 institutions of higher education, which educated nearly half a million students, a third of which were women. Two decades of hard-won progress quickly unwound and went down the drain the second the Taliban took control of the country. Foreign aid for higher education has come to an abrupt halt. The US and NATO allies have refused to engage with the Afghan government, depriving thousands of government workers and teachers of their salaries. Regional powers such as Russia and China were happy to see NATO troops backing out of Afghanistan but are not willing to replace the millions in humanitarian assistance that went with them. It is clear that the Taliban seeks international trade and connectivity but regularly impedes its pursuit of international legitimacy with its dystopian policies and rule by force. All states should predicate recognition of the basic respect of women’s rights. Cultural messaging is equally important-political leaders from the Muslim world especially must communicate to the Taliban what their interpretation of women’s rights under Shariah looks like. The international community, particularly, the Muslim world has a vital role to play in coordinating this pressure campaign but ultimately, the biggest change will come from within Afghanistan. *