Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women's and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
The Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and returned to power after America's chaotic departure last year.
The decision is certain to hurt efforts by the Taliban to win recognition from potential international donors at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis. The international community has urged Taliban leaders to reopen schools and give women their right to public space.The university ban comes weeks after Afghan girls took their high school graduation exams, even though they have been banned from classrooms since the Taliban took over the country last year.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the decision, calling it another"broken promise" from the Taliban and a"very troubling" move.
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Taliban bans Afghan women from attending universitiesWomen are banned from private and public universities until further notice, a Taliban government spokesman said, the latest edict cracking down on their rights and freedoms.
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Taliban ban Afghan women from attending universitiesWomen in Afghanistan are banned from private and public universities until further notice, a Taliban government spokesman said, the latest edict cracking down on their rights and freedoms.
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Afghan women weep as Taliban fighters enforce university banTaliban security forces in the Afghan capital enforced a higher education ban for women by blocking their access to universities, with video obtained by The Associated Press showing women weeping and consoling each other outside one campus in Kabul.
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Afghan women weep as Taliban fighters enforce university banTaliban security forces in the Afghan capital on Wednesday enforced a higher education ban for women by blocking their access to universities, with video obtained by The Associated Press showing women weeping and consoling each other outside one campus in Kabul. The country's Taliban rulers a day earlier ordered women nationwide to stop attending private and public universities effective immediately and until further notice. Journalists saw Taliban forces outside four Kabul universities Wednesday.
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