Taliban: women can study at gender-neutral universities

Women in Afghanistan can continue to study at universities, including at postgraduate level, but classrooms will be segregated by gender and Islamic dress is compulsory, Taliban the new minister of higher education in the government said on Sunday.

The announcement came as a Taliban official said The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul – the highest profile visitor since the Taliban announced their interim cabinet. There was no immediate confirmation of the visit by Qatari officials.

Earlier on Sunday, Higher Education Minister Abdul Bqi Haqqani presented the new policies at a press conference, days after the new Afghan rulers formed an all-male government. On Saturday the Taliban had hoisted his flag on the presidential palace, marking the start of the work of the new government.

The world watched closely how the Taliban might act differently from when they first took power in the late 1990s. At that time, girls and women were denied education and excluded from public life. .

The Taliban have suggested that they have changed, including in their attitudes towards women. However, women have been banned from sports and the Taliban have used violence in recent days against female protesters demanding equal rights.

Haqqani said the Taliban did not want to go back 20 years. “We will start to build on what is there today,” he said.

However, female university students will face restrictions, including a mandatory dress code. Haqqani said hijabs would be mandatory, but did not say whether that meant mandatory headscarves or also mandatory face coverings.

Gender segregation will also be enforced, he said. “We will not allow boys and girls to study together,” he said. “We will not allow co-education.”

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Haqqani said the subjects taught would also be reviewed. Although he did not elaborate, he said he wanted Afghan university graduates to be competitive with university graduates from the region and the rest of the world.

The Taliban, who subscribe to a strict interpretation of Islam, banned music and art during their previous term. This time around, the television stayed and the news channels are still showing female anchors, but the Taliban’s messages have been erratic.

In an interview with the popular TOLO News in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Syed Zekrullah Hashmi said last week that women should give birth and raise children. While the Taliban have not ruled out the possible participation of women in government, the spokesperson said “it is not necessary for women to be in government.”

The Taliban seized power on August 15, the day they invaded Kabul after capturing outlying provinces in a swift military campaign. They initially promised inclusiveness and a blanket amnesty for their former opponents, but many Afghans remain deeply afraid of the new rulers. Taliban police officials beat Afghan journalists, violently dispersed women’s protests and formed an all-male government although they initially said they would invite wider representation.

The new higher education policy marks a change from accepted practice before the Taliban took power. Universities were mixed, with men and women studying side by side, and female students did not have to adhere to a dress code. However, the vast majority of female university students chose to wear the headscarf according to tradition.

In elementary and secondary schools, boys and girls were taught separately, even before the Taliban came to power. In high schools, girls were required to wear knee-length tunics and white scarves, and jeans, makeup, and jewelry were not allowed.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted about the Qatari delegation on Sunday, saying it included Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdur Rahman Al-Thani, the deputy prime minister who is also Qatar’s foreign minister.

The Qatari foreign minister met with Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund, Shaheen said. The Qatari delegation also met with former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the chief negotiator of the previous government in the peace talks with the Taliban.

The Taliban have had a political office in the Qatari capital of Doha since 2013. Last week Qatar Airways became the first international airline to start operating international flights from Kabul airport, carrying more than 250 foreign nationals , including American citizens, outside the Capital.

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Qatar also provided technical assistance, along with Turkey, to restart the airport, which had been damaged by the departure of US troops who left Afghanistan on August 30 after evacuating tens of thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the Taliban government faces enormous economic challenges with almost daily warnings of an impending economic collapse and humanitarian crisis. The United Nations warns that this could drive 97% of Afghans below the poverty line by the end of the year.

Thousands of desperate Afghans wait in front of Afghan banks for hours every day to withdraw the weekly allowance of $ 200. In recent days, the Taliban appear to have tried to establish a system for customers to withdraw funds, but it quickly deteriorates waving the stick as the crowd rushes to the bank’s doors.

Outside of New Kabul Bank, Afghanistan’s first private bank created in 2004, nearly 2,000 people demanded their money on Sunday.

For Zaidullah Mashwani, Sunday was the third day he came to the bank hoping to get his $ 200. Every night, the Taliban compile a list of eligible customers for the next day and in the morning, Mashwani said a whole new list is presented.

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“It’s our money. People have a right to have it,” he said. “Nobody has money. The Taliban government has to do something so that we can get our money.”