CNN
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The Taliban government has suspended college education for all female students in Afghanistan. brutal repression On the rights and freedoms of women in Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the Afghan Higher Education Ministry confirmed the suspension to CNN on Tuesday. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting and the order will take effect immediately, according to a letter issued by the education ministry.
After months of closures were imposed after the Taliban took over in August 2021, girls were sent to secondary schools in March after the Taliban ordered girls’ schools to close just hours after they were scheduled to reopen. forbidden to return.
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday criticized the ban as “a shameful decision that violates the right to education of Afghan women and girls.”
“The Taliban make it clear every day that they do not respect the basic rights of Afghans, especially women,” the rights watchdog said in a statement.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news conference Tuesday that the United States condemned “the Taliban’s indefensible decision to keep women out of universities.”
The Taliban’s recent decisions “will have grave consequences for the Taliban, alienate them further from the international community and deny them the legitimacy they want,” he said.
Price added that the closure of secondary schools in March had a “significant impact” on US engagement with Taliban representatives.
“With the implementation of this decree, half of Afghanistan’s population will soon be denied access to anything but primary education,” he said.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, Acting Representative for Special Political Affairs, said at a UN Security Council briefing, “The Taliban cannot be expected to become legitimate members of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans. No, especially the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls.”
The Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan through a US-led invasion from 1996 to 2001, have historically treated women as second-class citizens, largely ignoring violence, forced marriage, and domestic presence. .
After seizing power in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban sought to project a more moderate image to garner international support.
But despite many promises to the international community to protect the rights of women and girls, the Taliban have done the opposite and systematically cracked down on women’s rights and freedoms.
Afghan women can no longer work in most sectors, require male guardians for long-distance travel, and are ordered to cover their faces in public.
It also imposes restrictions on girls’ education, female ban From certain workplaces that have been stripped of the rights they have fought tirelessly for the past 20 years.
In November, Afghan women were barred from entering an amusement park in Kabul, according to Reuters. This is because the government has announced restrictions on women’s access to public parks.
