Afghanistan: Women and men resume university courses separated by a curtain | The postcard from the Avicenna University of Kabul

The university courses in Afghanistan, after the takeover of power by the Taliban, they returned on Monday with an important change in the classrooms: now, men and women will be separated by a curtain which divides the class into two, as shown in a photograph taken at Avicenna University in Kabul.

Last week, the Acting Minister of Education, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, had argued that the fundamentalist movement it would allow women to attend university but without mixed classes.

On Monday, the main spokesperson for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, assured at a press conference that “women are an important part of our society” and insisted that Women’s rights will be respected in accordance with Sharia or Islamic law.

Although the situation for women in Afghanistan promises to be different from that suffered under the previous Taliban government, in effect between 1996 and 2001, when they were prohibited from studying at any level and even from working, the truth is that fear for the future of their rights is one of the biggest concerns circulating in the territory.

Sharia does not expressly impose segregation of women from men they are not close relatives, but it is a custom of the conservative Pashtun community, the majority ethnic group in Afghanistan, which separates boys from girls when they reach puberty.

This Monday, Afghan women have taken to the streets again, this time in Mazar i Sharif, in the province of Balkh, demand that the Taliban protect their basic human rights. Local sources said they were asking to be allowed to continue their education and be considered in a future Taliban government.

Last week, the Taliban cracked down on the Fourth Women’s March in Kabul with tear gas and gunfire. “They prevented us from continuing the march and said it was not allowed to go to the door of the presidential palace,” said one of the protest organizers, who requested anonymity. . “They used gunshots and tear gas to disperse us, even though five women gather in one place to protest, they disperse them,” he added.