"Every day wasted in education is a day wasted in the country's future," Afghan cricketer Rahmanullah Garbaz tweeted to protest the ban on women going to university. Cricket is a very popular sport in Afghanistan and the players have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
But neither the international condemnations nor the protests of its population make a dent in the Taliban government. The higher education minister of the Taliban government has finally decided to say something about it. Nida Mohammad Nadim has indicated that on December 20 he issued the decree "to prevent the mixing of the sexes in universities" and because he believes that "some subjects that are taught violate the principles of Islam."
According to him, the measure is a response to the non-compliance by the students of the measures related to wearing the hijab. The new order also wants to close residence halls for university students, who are prohibited from studying in a province other than their own. The Afghans also have the doors of secondary schools closed, so they can only study until they are 12 years old. They are also prohibited from entering parks and gyms.
The decision was made after a cabinet meeting of the Islamist government, according to an official letter published by Afghan media. The letter addressed to the authorities of public and private universities ordered the centers to prohibit all types of education for women "with immediate effect and until further notice." Nida Mohammad Nadim was appointed to the position by the Prime Minister of the Taliban government, Mullah Haibatulah Akhundzada, in October this year.
In an interview with Afghan television, Nadim rejected widespread international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The minister believes that foreigners "must stop interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan."
Following protests by some university women and men on the streets of Kabul on Thursday, several Afghan cricketers have also condemned the university ban on half the population.
In addition to Gujrat Titans player Rahmanullah Garbaz's tweet that "every day wasted in education was a day wasted in the future of the country", another player, Rashid Khan, has also subscribed to the hashtag
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said the ban is "neither Islamic nor humane" and called on the Taliban to reverse their decision. “What harm is there in the education of women? What harm does it do to Afghanistan?” Cavusoglu said. “Is there an Islamic explanation? On the contrary, our religion is not against education, on the contrary, it promotes education and science.
Saudi Arabia, which until 2019 imposed sweeping restrictions on women's travel, employment and other crucial aspects of daily life, including driving, also urged the Taliban to change course. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed "shock and regret" at the veto. Qatar, which mediated the agreements between Washington and the Taliban to end the conflict in 2021, has also condemned the decision.
According to AP reports, some two dozen women marched through the streets of Kabul on Thursday chanting in Dari for freedom and equality. "All or nothing. Don't be afraid. We are together," they chanted. One woman told the Associated Press that security forces used violence to disperse the group. "The girls were beaten and whipped," she said. "They also brought female soldiers with them, who whipped the girls. We ran away, some girls were arrested. I don't know what will happen."
Local Afghan media report that male students at Nangarhar Medical University have demonstrated and refused to sit for exams until access to the university for women is restored. Girls have been prohibited from going to school beyond the sixth grade. In the northeastern province of Takhar, teenagers told the Taliban they were forced out of a private education training center and told they no longer had the right to study, AP reports.
