Taliban says women banned from universities in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban-run higher education ministry has said that female students would not be allowed access to the country’s universities until further notice.

A letter, confirmed by a spokesperson for the higher education ministry on Tuesday, instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students immediately, in accordance with a Cabinet decision.

“You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” said a letter issued to all government and private universities, signed by the Minister for Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem.

The spokesman for the ministry, Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter, confirmed the order to several news agencies including AFP and the Associated Press.

Taliban has also restricted women from most fields of employment and banned them from parks.

The country has been reeling from a humanitarian crisis with more than half of the population facing hunger amid Western-imposed sanctions, as well as the freezing of humanitarian aid and nearly $10bn in Afghan central bank assets.