Afghanistan: Taliban allow women to attend university, but will ban co-ed classes

Women’s rights and safety in Afghanistan have been a concern ever since the Taliban takeover. Now, Taliban's acting higher education minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani on Sunday said that the Afghan women would be allowed to attend university for education but they wouldn’t be allowed to be part of co-ed class. The Taliban, during their earlier stint in power in the 1990s, had banned girls from getting an education along with women’s free movement in the country.

The Taliban ban co-ed class in universities

The Taliban have now said that Afghan women will be allowed education in the country. The group has now reaffirmed spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid’s earlier promise that women will be allowed to go to school, colleges and offices, a claim that was doubted by many. However, co-education has been banned, imposing that the extremist group still sticks to their age-old beliefs. According to Afghanistan's Khaama Press, the Taliban banned co-education across all government and private universities in the Herat province, calling it the 'root of all evils in society' and girls and boys will not be able to sit in the same class.

Earlier, the extremists on several occasions had made a number of promises to protect women's rights. However, despite their assurance, the Taliban began white-washing posters of women soon after capturing Kabul. The group has even ordered news outlets and radio channels not to broadcast any other programs with female voices, leading to female anchors being sacked by many outlets. The Taliban have also banned music with female voices on Radio and completely prohibited playing music in public areas. Reports of the extremist group targeting activists, who stood for women’s rights in the country, had also come out soon after the takeover of Kabul.

Will the Taliban accept women politicians?

The Taliban’s true colours unfurled when the group on 15 August, began white-washing posters of women on the streets. Amid the fear over women's rights under the Taliban, a woman journalist held an explosive interview where the mindset of the Taliban was exposed. The interview begins with the journalist asking if the Taliban would uphold women's rights in Afghanistan. To this, the militants reply that women's rights will be enforced as per the Islamic Sharia Law. The woman journalist then questions whether women politicians would be able to stand for elections and if the civilians can vote women leaders to power. After hearing the question, the Taliban burst into laughter. One of them then asked the cameraman to stop rolling saying that the question made him laugh. Thousands of women and children have attempted escaping Afghanistan since the Taliban took power.