Taliban minister defends ban on women studying in universities

The minister of higher education in the Taliban government on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities — a decree that had triggered a global backlash.

Discussing the matter for the first time in public, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam. He said the ban was in place until further notice.

In an interview with Afghan television, Nadim pushed back against the widespread international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.

Nadim said that foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Earlier on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the G7 group of states urged the Taliban to rescind the ban, warning that “gender persecution may amount to a crime against humanity”.

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The ministers warned after a virtual meeting that “Taliban policies designed to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries engage with the Taliban. The G7 group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

Nadim said universities would be closed to women for the time being, but that the ban could be reviewed at a later time.

A former provincial governor, police chief and military commander, Nadim was appointed minister in October by the supreme Taliban leader and previously pledged to stamp out secular schooling. Nadim opposes female education, saying it is against Islamic and Afghan values.

In Afghanistan, there has been some domestic opposition to the university ban, including statements of condemnation by several Afghan cricketers. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Afghanistan, and players have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, since they seized power in August 2021.

They have banned girls from middle school and high school, barred women from most fields of employment and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

Women are also banned from parks and gyms. At the same time, Afghan society, while largely traditional, has increasingly embraced the education of girls and women over the past two decades.