Afghanistan: women no longer allowed to study
In Afghanistan, the Taliban have banned women from attending university. Female students will be excluded from university education with immediate effect. The country's Minister of Higher Education Sheikh Neda Mohammad Nadim justified the decision by saying that allowing women to study was contrary to the Taliban's Islamic interpretation of the law - among other things because women often come to cities to study unaccompanied.
War on women
Women have always been enemies in the eyes of the Taliban, La Repubblica laments:
“The condemnation of Afghan women to ignorance is an ill omen for the present and future of the entire people of this nation oppressed by decades of war and terror. ... But the Taliban's war on women aimed at imposing the rules of tribal life is an important part of the promise they have made to their soldiers for twenty years, and was already a reality regardless of this latest crackdown. ... Since the regime's return to Kabul in August 2021, the lights have been growing ever dimmer for women by the day. No more work, no more teaching, no more secondary school, no more university.”
Ignoring the Taliban is counterproductive
The West's lack of a strategy vis-à-vis Afghanistan's new rulers is also to blame for the radical regression in the country, Der Spiegel comments:
“There is no reason to like them. But barely talking to them, letting meaningful development projects die and ignoring them completely apart from sending food aid strengthens the Akhundzada faction of hardliners. And it weakens those who had initially pushed through concessions. The same goes for political recognition of the Taliban government. We have recognised North Korea, Iran, Russia, whose dictatorships we condemn for many good reasons. It sounds oh so politically correct to refuse to recognise the Taliban for ruling Afghanistan. But that won't stop them from doing it. So what do we achieve by ignoring them?”
Restrictions built up over months
Gazeta Wyborcza is not surprised:
“Restrictions on women's access to universities had been in the cards for several months. Initially it was decided that men and women should study at different times, and then on different days. Although officially all universities remained open to women, female students of journalism and law in the eastern province of Paktia told this newspaper that they had received phone calls telling them not to show up for classes.”