While life in Afghanistan under the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 saw women and girls banned from seeking an education, the militant group, returned to power followingthe withdrawal of U.S. troops, says it willnow allow women to study— with some caveats.
On Sunday, the Taliban’s new higher education minister said that Afghan women could continue to study at universities, but classroomswill be gender-segregatedand Islamic dress will be mandatory.
The decades since the Taliban was ousted in the U.S. invasion in 2001 brought many changes for women and girls in the country —particularly those in the cities— who had access to an education and were no longer required to wear full-length burqas.
But as the militants swept back to power last month and the government collapsed, Afghans and advocates alike wondered if women and girls would again be subject to widespread repression.
Many fled the country in the final days of the U.S. presence; others went into hiding, fearing a loss of the way of life as they most recently knew it.
In the initial weeks after the takeover, Taliban officials did not outline their new requirements.
That has begun to change. Higher education minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani said in Sunday’s news conference the Taliban — which recently instituted amale-only interim government— did not want to go backwards. “We will start building on what exists today,” he said, the Associated Press reports.
Still, Haqqani said that gender segregation and a dress code requiring hijabs for women would be enforced. “We will not allow boys and girls to study together,” he said. “We will not allow co-education.”
Afghan women protest.HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty
The announcement comes a week after a Taliban official said in an interview that some women’s sports, like cricket,would be bannedin Afghanistan because the women players would be “exposed.”
In the weeks since the Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug. 15, some Afghan women have engaged in protests against the militant group in recent weeks, in some casescoming face-to-facewith Taliban fighters.
Last Tuesday, women in hijabs joined protests after the leader of the National Resistance Front,Ahmad Massoud, called for an uprising against the Taliban, NBC News reported, following the Taliban’s announcement of its interim government.
And one day later, on Wednesday, women gathered in Kabul’s streets holding placards demanding “freedom” and declaring “no government can deny the presence of women.” In response, CNN reported, some Taliban fighters “used whips and sticks” to lash some of the women.
If you would like to support those in need during the upheaval in Afghanistan, consider:
- Donating toUNICEFto aid Afghans in the country or
Donating to theInternational Refugee Assistance Projectto help those fleeing.
source: people.com
