Taliban suspends female students from Afghanistan's universities
U.S. says decision to ban women and girls from higher education "absolutely indefensible"
The Taliban-run Afghan higher education ministry said on Tuesday 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, instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students immediately, in accordance with a cabinet decision.
Confirmation of the university restrictions came the same evening as a UN Security Council session on Afghanistan, at which the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the closure of schools had "undermined" the Taliban administration's relationship with the international community.
"As long as girls remain excluded from school and the de facto authorities continue to disregard other stated concerns of the international community, we remain at something of an impasse," she said.
The decision came as many university students are sitting end of term exams.
One mother of a university student, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said her daughter called her in tears when she heard of the letter, fearing she could no longer continue her medical studies in Kabul.
"The pain that not only I and [other] mothers have in our heart, could not be described. We are all feeling this pain, they are worried for the future of their children," she said.
International condemnation
Foreign governments, including the United States, have said that a change in policies on women's education is needed before it can consider formally recognizing the Taliban-run administration, which is also subject to heavy sanctions.
"The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and fundamental freedom of women and girls," U.S. Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood told the council, describing the move as "absolutely indefensible."
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a tweet that Canada condemned the move as an "outrageous violation."
"Equal access to all levels of education is a right to which every woman and every girl is entitled," she said.
Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said the suspension was "another egregious curtailment of women's rights and a deep and profound disappointment for every single female student."
"It is also another step by the Taliban away from a self-reliant and prosperous Afghanistan," she told the council.
In March, the Taliban drew criticism from many foreign governments and some Afghans for making a u-turn on signals that all girls' high schools would be opened.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the move on Tuesday was "clearly another broken promise from the Taliban."
"It's another very troubling move and it's difficult to imagine how the country can develop, deal with all of the challenges that it has, without active participation of women and the education of women," he told reporters in New York.
U.S. points out 'irony' of 'goodwill gesture' from Taliban
The ban on women and girls attending universities coincided with the Taliban releasing two American nationals on Tuesday, in what appears to be a "goodwill gesture," according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Speaking at a daily press briefing, he said any explanation for the timing of the release is a question for the Taliban.
"The irony of them granting us a goodwill gesture on a day where they undertake a gesture like this, to the Afghan people, it's not lost on us," he told reporters.
Price said Washington was continuing to raise with the Taliban the need to release any U.S. nationals detained in Afghanistan but declined to provide who they may be and how many people may be held there.
Price confirmed the release was "not part of any swap" and there was no exchange of money for the detainees.
He said the former detainees will soon be reunited with their loved ones.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from CBC News