After seven days since the commencement of university classes in the cold provinces, female students once again find themselves behind closed university doors. The Taliban Ministry of Higher Education has issued a statement asking male students to attend the autumn semester classes in universities. With the publication of this announcement, university classes in the cold provinces, including Kabul University, started on February 1 without the presence of female students. The head of student affairs at Kabul University has also requested all faculties of the university to begin in-person classes on the specified date. These announcements, however, make no mention of the participation of female students in universities. Some female students who were expecting to be allowed to enter with the start of university classes have once again been disappointed and are worried about their academic and professional future under the Taliban regime. The continuation of this situation has made them lose hope in life. These students say that despite the increasing restrictions of the group on girls and women, they were hopeful for the reopening of universities, but the Taliban Ministry of Higher Education’s announcement of the exclusion of female students from university classes has once again sown the seeds of despair in their hearts.
Geeta is a fourth-year journalism student at Kabul University. The announcement of classes starting without the presence of girls and the impractical promises of Taliban officials regarding the reopening of universities for girls have deeply disheartened and worried her. She says that the closure of universities to girls and the continuation of their deprivation of the right to education have plunged girls into a pit of ambiguity and anxiety, and escaping it seems impossible under Taliban rule. She says, “This is the second year that university classes have started without the presence of girls. Last year, Taliban authorities promised to reopen universities to girls, months passed, and nothing happened. Despite the false promises, I still hoped that maybe this year universities would open to girls, but the news of classes starting without girls’ presence was very disheartening.”
This student says that she had two semesters left to complete her university courses and was supposed to graduate with male students, but the closure of the university has left her facing an uncertain fate, and now she has no way to continue her education. She says, “I am hopeless. I can neither continue my studies inside the country nor can I get a scholarship abroad because I don’t have an educational document. I don’t know what to do. I am completely disheartened by this situation.”
Marwa, a medical student at Kabul University, says that the news of universities starting without the presence of girls has deeply upset her. She is worried about the continued closure of universities to girls and says that this situation will lead young forces of the country to leave: “The distressing news that universities remain closed to girls has completely dashed hopes of their reopening. If this situation persists, more young people may leave the country, gradually leading to the deterioration of society.”
Marwa says that the Taliban have no right to deprive girls and women of their rights and that they should open the universities and schools to girls as soon as possible. She tells to the Taliban, “Do not torture Afghan girls any further using your self-made interpretation of Islam and Sharia law. Listen to the call of your conscience before it’s too late to regret.”
Muzghan, a philosophy and sociology student, is also worried about her academic and professional future under the banner of the Taliban. She says that the news of universities starting classes without the presence of girls has stripped her and other girls of their last hope. According to her, there is no positive outlook for the future under Taliban rule. She urges the Taliban to erase their mistaken belief that educating women will lead to the destruction of society and to allow girls and women to pursue education and work. She says, “If this situation continues, all girls will become disheartened, and their hopes for the prosperity of their homeland and their future will be destroyed, and they will have no motivation to continue living.”
These students call on the global community and human rights organizations to take the issue of Afghanistan and the crisis of closed doors of educational institutions for girls seriously to exert the necessary pressure on the Taliban and take practical steps to prevent further suffering of girls at home confinements and to mitigate the education crisis in Afghanistan.
On one hand, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has called the recent decision by the Taliban “inhumane” and stated that the unjust ban on girls’ access to education and work in Afghanistan must be lifted. He emphasized that Afghan women and girls must have meaningful participation in all aspects of life.
Simultaneously, some female students have expressed pessimism about the reactions and impractical actions of the international community and the holding of various meetings regarding the Afghanistan issue. They say that several meetings in Doha and other cities regarding the Afghanistan issue, especially the violation of the rights of girls and women and the blatant crimes of the Taliban against the people, have been held, but the Afghan people have not seen positive results from these meetings.
Benafsha, a student, criticizes the international community, saying, “What has changed in Afghanistan from that Doha Meeting to this Doha Meeting? Has the world been able to change the Taliban’s misogynistic actions towards Afghan women? Then why haven’t all these talks and dialogues about the Afghanistan issue led to action? Why are the doors of schools and universities still closed to girls?”
This comes as the Taliban group, during over two and a half years of its rule, has paid no attention to the demands of the international community and the people of Afghanistan and has continued its widespread violations of human rights and extensive crimes against the people of Afghanistan, especially women. In the second Doha meeting hosted by the United Nations aimed at finding a way out of the current crisis in Afghanistan under Taliban rule and determining a UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan held on February 18 and 19, the Taliban group was also invited; however, they did not participate in that meeting due to their conditions not being accepted by the United Nations. Human rights activists, protesting women, and political movements heavily criticized the invitation of the Taliban to this meeting. Some UN agencies and participating members had demanded that the issue of women and girls be discussed more than any other issue in this gathering, but the meeting ended after two days without reaching any agreement on the appointment of a UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan.