Several students report that the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education has postponed the process of verifying documents for students who have studied at foreign universities “until further notice.” According to them, the ministry has verbally instructed all public universities not to respond to emails from foreign universities and institutions. These students say with deep concern that these emails are sent by foreign universities to universities in Afghanistan to verify their semesters, grades, and graduation or non-graduation status, and that halting this process holds the fate of thousands hostage.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education, continuing its sweeping restrictions against students and universities across the country, has this time halted the process of verifying and responding to emails from foreign universities regarding students who left Afghanistan to study abroad. Students say that the continued suspension of this process has taken their academic futures hostage and placed them in an extremely difficult situation. According to them, this decision was made at a meeting between the Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education and members of the ministry’s academic council, and all public universities have been verbally instructed not to respond to emails from foreign universities.
These students say that this decision not only means a halt to responding to emails, but has also suspended the verification of documents for citizens of Afghanistan who wish to find employment in foreign countries and international institutions.
Omid (pseudonym), a student at a university in Pakistan, expressed deep concern, saying: “I emailed Kabul University to have my documents verified, but the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education says the process has been suspended until further notice. If our documents are not verified in Afghanistan, we cannot receive our academic credentials from Pakistan. A friend of mine visited the student affairs directorate and was told that this process has been suspended for two weeks.”
The student added, “They also said that no one’s emails will be responded to until further notice. I also messaged my professor, and he confirmed the same. I am currently in my final semester of my master’s program in Pakistan, and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan will not issue a degree without document verification from Afghanistan. Not only I, but many students at Quaid-i-Azam University, International Islamic University, Bahria University, and others are facing the same problem.”
Omid said: “Today, even the ministry’s academic council informed me that your emails can’t be verified or responded to, because this is a directive. This decision was made by the Minister [Neda Mohammad Nadeem] at the academic council of the Ministry of Higher Education.”
Mohammad (pseudonym) said: “I am a final-year student in a master’s program at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in Pakistan. Two weeks ago, HEC Pakistan emailed my university to verify my documents, but the university and the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education stated that responding to verification emails for citizens of Afghanistan abroad is prohibited, especially until further notice.”
The student added: “I have struggled through thousands of difficulties, including visa challenges, run-ins with Pakistani police, financial hardships, and hundreds of other obstacles, and now, on the verge of graduation, my own country refuses to verify my documents. I do not know where to turn, who to speak to, what to do, or what my academic future will ultimately be.” According to him, if the current situation continues, thousands of students waiting outside Afghanistan for their document verification emails will face delays of several years in completing their academic credentials and will be left facing an uncertain fate.
The students emphasize that, at present, in addition to independent students, dozens of university professors who have traveled abroad under government scholarships also require document verification from the Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education, and they too cannot confirm their academic degrees without receiving their credentials.
This comes even though previously, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education, had blocked approximately 500 students from traveling to Russia. He had told these students: “You will go as Muslims and come back as communists.” Nadeem had also told them: “You cannot tell Russians that their religion is invalid.”
Earlier, sources had expressed concern about the “Talibanization” of universities, saying that Kabul University has become deeply entangled in ethnic issues. According to these sources, under the guise of “security vetting,” the Taliban are removing experienced and prominent faculty members by labeling them with accusations such as “rebel,” “resistance member,” “Setami,” and other such tags, and are preventing them from proceeding to examination and selection stages.
Previously, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had, in its official reports and statements, objected to “academic purges,” the ban on women’s education, and the Taliban’s discriminatory educational policies.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had warned in a 2023 report that academic institutions in Afghanistan are facing a deep crisis in academic independence, freedom of expression, and the exchange of knowledge.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has referred to the dismissal of critical faculty members, the restriction of curriculum content, and the imposition of ideological pressure on universities as part of the Taliban’s efforts to establish complete control over society.
Scholars at Risk (SAR) announced in a report titled the “Academic Freedom Monitoring Project” that researchers and students in Afghanistan are facing repeated and widespread attacks on academic freedom and on the independence of the institutions in which they operate. The report further noted that the Taliban have confiscated books deemed incompatible with Hanafi jurisprudence and have arrested and imprisoned several university professors for facilitating education for women.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
تعلیق تایید اسناد و پاسخ به ایمیلها؛ طالبان آینده تحصیلی دانشجویان را گروگان گرفتهاند
