Days after holding a press conference that created a false sense of security, the Taliban in the Herat province have banned co-education in government and private universities, describing it as the “root of all evils in society”.
This is an absolute rollback from the promise that the Taliban made when it said that it will respect women’s rights in Afghanistan. The decision was taken after a meeting between varsity professors, owners of private institutions, and Taliban authorities, reports Khaama Press News Agency on Saturday (August 21).
This is the first ‘fatwa’ or religious edict issued by the Taliban after it over the capital Kabul and technically ended the US’s longest war, which lasted for almost twenty years after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
During his first-ever public appearance of Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s longtime spokesman who wanted to assuage concerns of people and had promised the Taliban would honour women’s rights within the norms of Islamic law, in an effort to portray a more moderate stance.
Taliban representative and the new Head of Higher Education in Afghanistan, Mullah Farid made it very clear when held a three-hour meeting with university professors and owners of private educational institutions and that there is no alternative and co-education must end.
From now on virtuous female lecturers would only be allowed to teach female students but not male which brings to an end two decades of progress where boys and girls mixed system of co-education in all universities and institutes helped change mindsets of people for an entire generation.
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