– Right now it feels like being buried alive with all my dreams. I feel suffocated. I cry for help, but no one hears my cries, says “Palwasha” (24). The medical student tells news that many of her friends have lost their zest for life after the Taliban’s ban on women taking education. – I feel abandoned. May God throw his wrath on the Taliban, says the 24-year-old, as she tries to hold back her tears. ADMISSION DENIED: Female students outside Kabul University yesterday. Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi / AP – As if the soul has left the body For over a year, the Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan last August, have promised that they will give girls the right to education. Now they have done the opposite. It has caused violent reactions – both inside and outside Afghanistan. news has been in contact with several female students in the capital, Kabul. They say they are devastated by the decision. Everyone’s name has been anonymised for their safety. – We don’t understand anything. We had such big dreams. Now everything is in ruins, and we don’t even know why we can’t go to school, says “Zuhra”, who studied IT at a private university in Kabul. news talks to the young students on the phone. In the background we hear several girls crying. KNUST: “Fariba” is one of the female students news has interviewed on the phone from Kabul. – We braved bombs, terror and the fear of death every single day to go to school. Against all odds, I got into medical school. I only had 2 years left of my education, but now they are taking that right away from me too, says “Fariba”, crying. – My education was the only thing that gave meaning in life. I feel abandoned. I feel lonely. It feels like my soul has left my body. Division in the Taliban There is complete division within the Taliban over the issue of women’s right to education. The more pragmatic and reform-friendly leaders based in Kabul want to break with their extreme past. One of the Taliban leaders who has defended women’s right to education is Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai. He led the negotiations between the US and the Taliban in Qatar. SUPPORTS WOMEN: Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai has challenged his own leadership and demanded that women should be allowed to work and get an education. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP – Education is compulsory for men and women, without any form of discrimination. None of the religious leaders gathered here today can deny that. There is no religious justification for why women cannot get an education, said the Taliban leader in a speech he gave to central Taliban leaders in September. Several of these leaders have loudly advocated that girls must be allowed to go to school, and women must be allowed to work if Afghanistan is to get out of disability. MIGHTY: It is the Taliban’s spiritual leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada and the circle around him, who are behind the denial of education. Photo: Afghan Islamic Press / AP But the conservative circle around the movement’s mythical spiritual leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada in Kandahar, wants women to stay at home. It is this hard core that is behind the denial of education for women. The man who has decided that women should not be allowed to get an education belongs to this circle. “The woman is the man’s property” On Twitter, the minister for higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadim, wrote the following yesterday: – People are angry with the Taliban leadership, and especially with me, for the ban on education for girls. (…) according to Islam, women have no right to use education as a pretext for indecency. The woman is the man’s property. They are obliged to serve the man, not to get an education, writes the minister. ORDER: This Taliban document, reproduced on Twitter by Human Rights Watch, shows the order that women will no longer be taught at Afghan universities. Photo: Taliban/HRW – This is not the first time the Taliban have denied us education. The last time they were in power, in the 1990s, they closed our schools. They fooled us by constantly saying that we will open the schools soon. It never happened. Now they do the same. We have zero confidence in their words, says “Freshta”, who is a nurse. Taliban audio messages news has gained access to audio messages in which Taliban commanders in Kabul give orders to their foot soldiers to stand guard at all educational institutions in the country for the next few days. – We have sent reinforcements to all the districts with universities and colleges for women. Do not let anyone into the schools. That is the order of our supreme leader. That order must be followed by everyone, says the unnamed Taliban leader to his soldiers. Large security forces are deployed at places such as Kabul University. Even the special forces of the Taliban are out in the streets. Journalists are not allowed near schools and universities. Neither do students. MASS MOBILIZATION: Thousands of Taliban soldiers have been ordered into the streets of Kabul to prevent demonstrations. Photo: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP – We have thousands of soldiers ready from various units, also from the special forces. I ask everyone to be extra vigilant for the next 3-4 days, says the Taliban commander in the audio message. news has seen videos of crying young women who have gathered near their universities. They dare not shout slogans for fear of being chased away by the Taliban soldiers, who have formed an iron ring around their schools. The Taliban threaten anyone who demonstrates with arrest, according to audio messages news has gained access to. – Someone will certainly try to take advantage of the situation and demonstrate in the streets. Don’t let it happen. We do not accept such mutiny against the leader’s decision. If anyone challenges peace and order and demonstrates, they must be arrested, orders the Taliban leader. Gaining support from male students In the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, both female and male students have protested against women being denied access to colleges and universities. This video, shared by several Afghan journalists on Twitter, shows a demonstration in Nangarhar. news has been in contact with Afghans in the area who confirm that the demonstration took place. On Twitter, a video purporting to show male medical students leaving an exam room in solidarity with female students has also gone viral. The women stand in rows at the university, applauding the male students for their support: That women are denied an education is not only a tragedy for the students, but also for Afghanistan. The country has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. In 2020, 58 children died per 1,000 births. In comparison, less than two children die per 1,000 births in Norway. Now many fear that both pregnant women and their newborn children will die on a far greater scale if the denial of education is maintained. Afghanistan has an acute shortage of midwives and female health personnel. – I chose midwifery education because I thought it was the safest educational choice in the Taliban’s Afghanistan. They refuse to let men treat female patients. But now I can’t finish my education either, says “Sima” to news. – How will it go with all the women who get complications during childbirth, if we hospitals lack midwives, asks the 22-year-old. – Moving to underground schools The students news speaks to on the phone say that they will not be stopped by the Taliban order which prevents them from getting an education. They say they will continue their studies at any cost. “Mona”, who studies economics, has a plan. – We are not giving up. The Taliban must not be allowed to prevent us from acquiring knowledge. We are going to move our education to underground schools. We do not accept being denied schooling, she says.
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– May God throw his wrath on the Taliban – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
