Taliban's backtracking on university education for girls 'very troubling': UN

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The UN denounced Tuesday an indefinite ban on university education for Afghan women by the Taliban, the country’s de facto authority.

''It's clearly another broken promise from the Taliban,'' UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists. ''It's another very troubling move.''

The Taliban's Ministry of Higher Education announced the ban on women's education with immediate effect and until further notice, further excluding women from public life.

Women and girls have been deprived of their rights, including the right to education, and disappeared from the public since the Taliban returned to power on Aug. 15, 2021, as officials of the US-backed Kabul administration fled the country and foreign forces withdrew.

The Taliban have failed to live up to their pledges to the international community.

"it's difficult to imagine how a country can develop, can deal with all of the challenges that it has without the active participation of women and the education of women," said Dujarric.

Thousands of women have since lost their jobs or were forced to resign from government institutions and the private sector.

Girls have been prevented from attending middle and high school. Many women have demanded their rights be reinstated by taking to the streets, protesting and organizing campaigns.