Tightening the Taliban’s restrictions on women, the group’s new chancellor for Kabul University announced on Monday that women would be indefinitely banned from the institution either as instructors or students.
“I give you my words as chancellor of Kabul University,” Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat said in a Tweet on Monday. “As long as a real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work. Islam first.”
The new university policy echoes the Taliban’s first time in power, in the 1990s, when women were only allowed in public if accompanied by a male relative and would be beaten for disobeying, and were kept from school entirely.
Some female staff members, who have worked in relative freedom over the past two decades, pushed back against the new decree, questioning the idea that the Taliban had a monopoly on defining the Islamic faith.
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“In this holy place, there was nothing un-Islamic,” one female lecturer said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, as did several others interviewed by The New York Times. “Presidents, teachers, engineers and even mullahs are trained here and gifted to society,” she said. “Kabul University is the home to the nation of Afghanistan.”
In the days after the Taliban seized power in August, officials went to pains to insist that this time would be better for women, who would be allowed to study, work and even participate in government.
But none of that has happened. Taliban leaders recently named an all-male cabinet. The new government has also prohibited women from returning to the workplace, citing security concerns, though officials have described that as temporary. (The original Taliban movement did that as well in its early days in 1990s, but never followed up.)
Two weeks ago, the Taliban replaced the president of Kabul University, the country’s premier college, with Mr. Ghairat, a 34-year-old devotee of the movement who has referred to the country’s schools as “centers for prostitution.”
It was another grave blow to an Afghan higher education system that had been buoyed for years by hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid, but has been reeling since the group’s return to power.
“There is no hope, the entire higher education system is collapsing,” said Hamid Obaidi, the former spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education who was also a lecturer at the Journalism School of Kabul University. “Everything was ruined.”
Tens of thousands of public university students are staying home because their schools are closed. The American University in Afghanistan, in which the U.S. invested over $100 million, has been abandoned completely and taken over by the Taliban.
Professors and lecturers from across the country, many of whom were educated overseas, have fled their posts in anticipation of more stringent regulations from the Taliban. In their wake, the government is appointing religious purists, many of whom have minimal academic experience, to head the institutions.
In a symbolic act of resistance, the teachers union of Afghanistan sent a letter last week to the government demanding that it rescind Mr. Ghairat’s appointment. The young chancellor was also criticized on social media for his lack of academic experience. Reached by The Times, some of his classmates described him as an isolated student with extremist views who had problems with female classmates and lecturers.
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“I haven’t even started the job yet,” Mr. Ghairat said, rejecting concerns about his appointment in an interview with The Times. “How do they know if I am qualified or not? Let time be the judge,” he said, adding that his 15 years working on cultural affairs for the Taliban made him a perfect candidate for the job.
The Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, tried to soften Mr. Ghairat’s announcement that women could not return to Kabul University, telling The Times, “It might be his own personal view.” But he would not give any assurances as to when the ban on women would be rescinded, saying that until then the Taliban were working to devise a “safer transportation system and an environment where female students are protected.”
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While some women have returned to class at private universities, the country’s public universities remain closed. Even if they reopen, it appears that women will be required to attend segregated classes, with only women as instructors. But with so few female teachers available — and many of them still publicly restricted from working — many women will almost certainly have no classes to attend.
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“I give you my words as chancellor of Kabul University,” Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat said in a Tweet on Monday. “As long as a real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work. Islam first.”
The new university policy echoes the Taliban’s first time in power, in the 1990s, when women were only allowed in public if accompanied by a male relative and would be beaten for disobeying, and were kept from school entirely.
Some female staff members, who have worked in relative freedom over the past two decades, pushed back against the new decree, questioning the idea that the Taliban had a monopoly on defining the Islamic faith.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
“In this holy place, there was nothing un-Islamic,” one female lecturer said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, as did several others interviewed by The New York Times. “Presidents, teachers, engineers and even mullahs are trained here and gifted to society,” she said. “Kabul University is the home to the nation of Afghanistan.”
In the days after the Taliban seized power in August, officials went to pains to insist that this time would be better for women, who would be allowed to study, work and even participate in government.
But none of that has happened. Taliban leaders recently named an all-male cabinet. The new government has also prohibited women from returning to the workplace, citing security concerns, though officials have described that as temporary. (The original Taliban movement did that as well in its early days in 1990s, but never followed up.)
Two weeks ago, the Taliban replaced the president of Kabul University, the country’s premier college, with Mr. Ghairat, a 34-year-old devotee of the movement who has referred to the country’s schools as “centers for prostitution.”
It was another grave blow to an Afghan higher education system that had been buoyed for years by hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid, but has been reeling since the group’s return to power.
“There is no hope, the entire higher education system is collapsing,” said Hamid Obaidi, the former spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education who was also a lecturer at the Journalism School of Kabul University. “Everything was ruined.”
Tens of thousands of public university students are staying home because their schools are closed. The American University in Afghanistan, in which the U.S. invested over $100 million, has been abandoned completely and taken over by the Taliban.
Professors and lecturers from across the country, many of whom were educated overseas, have fled their posts in anticipation of more stringent regulations from the Taliban. In their wake, the government is appointing religious purists, many of whom have minimal academic experience, to head the institutions.
In a symbolic act of resistance, the teachers union of Afghanistan sent a letter last week to the government demanding that it rescind Mr. Ghairat’s appointment. The young chancellor was also criticized on social media for his lack of academic experience. Reached by The Times, some of his classmates described him as an isolated student with extremist views who had problems with female classmates and lecturers.
Updates on Afghanistan Sign up for a daily email with the latest news on the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Get it sent to your inbox.
“I haven’t even started the job yet,” Mr. Ghairat said, rejecting concerns about his appointment in an interview with The Times. “How do they know if I am qualified or not? Let time be the judge,” he said, adding that his 15 years working on cultural affairs for the Taliban made him a perfect candidate for the job.
The Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, tried to soften Mr. Ghairat’s announcement that women could not return to Kabul University, telling The Times, “It might be his own personal view.” But he would not give any assurances as to when the ban on women would be rescinded, saying that until then the Taliban were working to devise a “safer transportation system and an environment where female students are protected.”
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
While some women have returned to class at private universities, the country’s public universities remain closed. Even if they reopen, it appears that women will be required to attend segregated classes, with only women as instructors. But with so few female teachers available — and many of them still publicly restricted from working — many women will almost certainly have no classes to attend.
At Afghan Universities, Increasing Fear That Women Will Never Be Allowed Back (Published 2021)
Setbacks at public universities have posed another major blow to women’s rights under Taliban rule, and to a two-decade effort to build up higher education.
