Afghan universities reopened on Monday, March 6, after the long winter holidays. But only for men. Under the Taliban regime, girls do not have the right to education.
“No question that they set foot in the university“, this ban which had created astonishment at the end of December, was applied to the letter in this new school year, on the pretext that the students did not respect their obligations: namely to be fully veiled to attend classes, and to arrive accompanied by a marham, a man of their family.
A student from the University of Herat recorded a video wearing men’s clothes because “being a woman in Afghanistan is now a crime”. She asks the world not to forget them, as they fight for freedom
pic.twitter.com/OJKJFyJFM9— Simone Rodan-Benzaquen (@srodan) January 4, 2023
During the holidays, the Minister of Higher Education even threatened to “legal proceedings” private faculties who would dare to let their female students take the end-of-year exams.
Some Taliban are however ready to make some concessions (in particular those who in all hypocrisy have sent their own daughters to study abroad), but today it is the hardest part of the regime which imposes its conditions, that of the leader supreme, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and ultra-conservative clerics who advise him.
The number of forced marriages on the rise
The ban on going to university is one example of repression among many others. Since they regained control of the country a year and a half ago, the Taliban have sought to erase women from public life: secondary schools and high schools are closed. Women are prohibited from working in a job in contact with the public and prohibited from showing up in sports halls, parks or gardens.
In the name of an ultra-rigorous interpretation of Islam, half the population finds itself deprived of its fundamental rights. Amnesty International pointed out last year that the number of child marriages and forced marriages had increased.
A deeply patriarchal country
Difficult to resist: female students posted a letter on social networks, they called on their male classmates and their teachers to boycott classes, but Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative, patriarchal country where acts of solidarity are rare.
Today, all universities have reopened in Afghanistan after the winter break, but only for men.
These young Afghan women demonstrate peacefully in front of Kabul University against the ban on going to pic.twitter.com/vv2rNHURQr… https://t.co/3QBc2rvPp1— letters from Tehran (@LettresTeheran) March 6, 2023
A journalism teacher who protested in early February by tearing up his diplomas live on TV was beaten and held for 32 days, he was released on Sunday.
A security source told TOLOnews that Ismail Mashal, a university professor who was arrested by the Islamic Emirate a while ago, has been released. pic.twitter.com/HEt7k44XFf
— اخبار عاجل و تحليل اوضاع – افغانستان وجهان (@kgvh6v) March 2, 2023
Moreover, even if the regime’s practices arouse a wave of condemnations in the world, including in Muslim countries, pressure from outside does not change anything. The Taliban seem much more concerned today with applying the Sharia as they see fit than with pretending that they have changed to obtain recognition from the international community and the economic aid that goes with it.