The Taliban have imposed segregation of women in universities and the response has been high absenteeism

In addition to establishing segregation by sex, the Taliban demanded the wearing of the nicab for women.

While in some schools no student was present, the authorities and teachers from other study houses reported that attendance was very low.

“Most of our students did not come,” said Reza Ramazan., computer science professor at Gharjistan University, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, quoted by the AFP news agency.

“We don’t even know if they are still in the country,” he added.

Tens of thousands of mostly skilled Afghans fled the country after the Taliban seized power on August 15, after 20 years of occupation by US troops.

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After conquering almost all of Afghanistan in a blitzkrieg, the Taliban have sought to appear more moderate than when they ruled and imposed a brutal regime between 1996 and 2001, but many Afghans are suspicious.

In these years, marked by a strict application of Islamic law, women have disappeared from Afghan public space.

The return to private universities comes a day after the Taliban announced they allow women to study, but under strict conditions, such as not mingling with men in classrooms and wearing a black abaya and a niab that covers their face.

In addition, students must leave the classroom five minutes before the students and wait in a room until the latter have left the building.

“Of our 1,000 students, less than 200 came today,” said Noor Ali Rahmani, director of Gharjistan University, who clearly disagreed with the Taliban yesterday.

Rahmani hopes that the international community, the traditional economic backer of this poor country, “will put pressure on the Taliban” to relax their policies.

“Otherwise, our students will not accept it and we will have to close the university,” he added.