When Sumeyye heard that she would no longer be allowed to attend classes at her university from the following day, she knew that the rumor that had been circulating for weeks had now come true. The militant Islamist Taliban, which has been back in power in Afghanistan since August 2021, pushed through a nationwide decree last week banning all Afghan women from attending university.
Shortly afterwards, a professional ban was imposed on women working for non-governmental organisations. Sumeyye, from the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, was still in her last semester of medical school. Now she has to stay home. “I wish I hadn’t been born here,” says the 23-year-old during an interview with SonntagsBlick.
It is clear to them: the ban is permanent. The ‘new’ Taliban are still the old ones, re-cultivating the misogynist policies they were known for in their first reign in the 1990s. “Becoming a doctor was my dream. But I have no future here,” says Sumeyye.
Taliban decisions of a purely misogynist nature
The men in her family see it the same way. Her father, a strict practicing Muslim who fought alongside the Muslim mujahideen against the Soviet army in the 1980s and now works as a doctor himself, is beside himself. “It should not surprise us that we have a bad image when we are ruled by such men. The Taliban’s decision has no Islamic basis, but is purely misogynistic and totalitarian in nature.” Ahmad, Sumeyye’s brother, is also depressed about the Taliban’s recent decision. “We are exposed to these fanatics and there is nothing we can do. Life in Afghanistan is hardly worth living anymore,” he says.
Those in power see it differently. During an interview with the Afghan state television, which it controls, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban regime’s new minister of higher education, claimed that the “Islamic foundation” for women’s education must be laid. For example, gender segregation is currently not observed and women do not move around the campus alone, so not “without male company”. The Taliban gave similar reasons in spring for closing girls’ schools. Many people still hope that schools will open again and the situation will improve.
decline with disastrous consequences
Now, however, another step backwards has been taken, which will have disastrous consequences. The number of female doctors will decrease in the coming years. Infant mortality will increase. In addition to the foreseeable consequences in the health system, there are also mental illnesses such as depression and an increased suicide rate.
That is why many Afghans do not want to be satisfied with the Taliban’s decisions. “The reasons given are just pretexts. They want to ban girls from the education system,” said Bezhan Karimi, a student at Kabul University. He describes how armed Taliban fighters denied female students access to lecture halls. In some cases, they also used violence against the girls. The continuation of the anti-woman policy was predictable. Since her return, the Taliban are constantly looking for reasons at Karimi University to refuse girls’ visits.
Banning education for women has sparked nationwide criticism
The Taliban’s recent decisions to ban women from going to university and working for an NGO sparked protests across the country. In some parts of the country, male students broke off their exams to demonstrate alongside the excluded women. In addition, several professors and lecturers have been dismissed.
There is also criticism within the Taliban, such as from Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the former minister of higher education, who spoke out against the ban on education for women and girls. However, the developments of the past few days show that the extreme forces within the Taliban are asserting themselves and that the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Achundsada, is an absolute hardliner who has nothing in common with the moderate-looking Taliban, who was killed in August 2021 arrested by the international were courted by the press.