Female students will not be permitted entry to Afghanistan's universities until further notice, according to the Taliban-run higher education ministry.
A spokesperson for the ministry of higher education confirmed on Tuesday that a letter instructed Afghan public and private universities to immediately deny female students access, in accordance with a Cabinet decision.
A letter sent to all government and private universities and signed by the Minister for Higher Education, N-E D-A Mohammad Nadeem, stated that "all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice".
The ministry's spokesman, Z-I-A U L-A H H-A S H-I M-I, who tweeted the letter, informed several news organizations, including AFP and the Associated Press, of the order.
The act was called “troubling” by UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday, "It's clearly another promise from the Taliban that has been broken".
He stated, "We have seen a lessening of space for women, not only in education but also access to public areas" since their takeover.
It's another very troubling move, and it's hard to imagine how a country could develop and overcome all of its problems without women's active participation and education.
The declaration came as the Unified Countries Security Chamber met in New York on Afghanistan. During the council meeting, both British and American UN envoys opposed the move.
According to US Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood, Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, particularly the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls
Feeling This Pain
The Taliban has guarded its choice, saying such limitations have been done to protect "public interest" and ladies' "honor".
Although a number of Taliban officials asserted that the ban on secondary education is only temporary, they have also offered a plethora of justifications for the closure, ranging from a lack of funds to the amount of time required to rewrite the syllabus in an Islamic manner.
It has also excluded women from the majority of occupations, mandated that they cover their entire bodies when out and about, and restricted their access to gyms and parks.
The university restrictions were confirmed the same evening as a UN Security Council session on Afghanistan, where R O Z-A, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, stated that the Taliban administration's relationship with the international community had been “undermined” by the closure of schools.
She stated, "We remain at something of an impasse as long as girls remain excluded from school and the de facto authorities continue to disregard other stated concerns of the international community".
Meanwhile, Let Afghan Girls Learn founder Obaidullah B-A H-I R described the move as "a recurring nightmare stretching over generations".
"The Taliban picked the day and the time in which the UN security committee was examining Afghanistan to report something to that effect", B-A H-I R told Al Jazeera.
He stated, "There is tension within the Taliban... even those who oppose this decision have been very passive".
B-A H-I R stated that "continuing to rely on the Taliban to reform internally hasn't worked," adding that the international community's responses to the Taliban have only "appeased" and "emboldened" them.
The decision was made as a lot of university students were preparing for their final exams. One university student's mother, who requested anonymity for reasons of security, said that her daughter called her in tears when she heard about the letter because she was worried that she wouldn't be able to continue her medical studies in Kabul.
It is impossible to adequately describe the pain that not only I but also other mothers experience. This pain is affecting all of us. She stated, "They are concerned for their children's future".
More than half of the population is hungry as a result of the country's humanitarian crisis. In the midst of Western-forced sanctions, as well as the freezing of compassionate guide and almost $10bn in Afghan national bank resources
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