The Taliban government has suspended university education for all female students in Afghanistan, the latest step in its brutal clampdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women.
A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education confirmed the suspension to CNN on Tuesday. A letter published by the education ministry said the decision was made in a cabinet meeting and the order will go into effect immediately.
Girls were barred from returning to secondary schools in March, after the Taliban ordered schools for girls to shut just hours after they were due to reopen following months-long closures imposed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
Human Rights Watch criticized the ban on Tuesday, calling it a “shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan.”
“The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don’t respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,” the rights watchdog said in a statement. The US condemns “the Taliban’s indefensible decision to ban women from universities,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a Tuesday briefing.
The Taliban’s recent decision, he said, will “have significant consequences for the Taliban and will further alienate the Taliban from the international community and deny them the legitimacy they desire.”
The March closure of secondary schools to girls had a “significant impact” on US engagement with Taliban representatives, Price added.“With the implementation of this decree, half of the Afghan population will soon be unable to access education beyond primary school,” he said.
