By Freshta Ghani
After the Taliban regained power, they singled out women for suppression. They banned girls’ education over grade 6. Women public sector employees were ordered to stay home. Women’s right to travel and even going for a walk outside their homes was made conditional on being accompanied by a mahram. The Taliban ordered women to cover their faces in public places. After that, parks and public baths were closed to women. Then, on December 20, the Taliban closed universities to female students. Two days later, it banned all girls and women from attending private educational centres. In the aftermath of these educational bans, the Taliban forcibly expelled female students from all public and private universities and violently suppressed demonstrations against their misogynistic edicts.
Life has become increasingly harsh and isolating for female students in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. In the past five months, Zan Times has interviewed 50 female students at public universities of Kabul, Balkh, Herat, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Badakhshan, Jawzjan, Baghlan, Daikundi, Nimroz, Takhar, and Samangan, about their lives under Taliban rule and how they have coped with the restrictions and violence aimed at them.
Their stories are ones of repression and endurance. Even as the Taliban kept imposing more and more restrictions on female students in an effort to prevent them from studying, the women refused to give in. They continued to study. They continued to show up to classes. And they continued to protest.
The edicts were both petty and sweeping: Girl students must wear hijab, gloves, and black veils during class and even in their dormitory; avoid wearing coloured clothes; do not wear thin socks; don’t wear sandals; do not wear high heels; do not talk to any male students or professors; do not use smartphones; classes and even halls and walkways must be separated between males and females; boys and girls must study on different days and at different times; do not take pictures inside the university; female students do not have the right to participate in meetings where men are present; females aren’t allowed to take part in university graduation ceremonies; do not protest against the rulings of the Islamic Emirate.
Female students who raised their voices or protested against these restrictions or other human rights violations were insulted, humiliated, harassed and beaten by the Taliban and its agents in the universities. The examples are numerous.
On October 2, female students living in a dormitory of Kabul University suddenly became ill the night before they were to take part in a public demonstration to protest a string of deadly attacks on educational institutions. Rukhsar, one of those who became ill after eating the dinner, believed the Taliban poisoned the students’ food. As she told Zan Times, “They had cooked beans for dinner. In the middle of the night, the health condition of the girls deteriorated, and it was gradually getting worse. It was accompanied by dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, and weakness. We wanted to go to the hospital, but the Taliban did not allow us.” In addition, another student, Shafiqa, complained that the Taliban has taken students’ phones so they can’t take photos or videos of the situation within the dormitory.”
Then, after the female students went public with their concerns, the Taliban expelled more than 60 female students, most of them Hazaras, who were living in the dormitory. One of the students is Narges* who told Zan Times, “When I asked a Talib about the reason for my expulsion, he told me, ‘You wanted to cause disorder and expose poisoning in the dormitory. That’s why you were expelled.’”
As always, student protests were suppressed by the Taliban. At the same time, female student at Herat University protested for the right of girls to get an education and in response to the suicide attack on the Kaaj education centre that killed scores of girls.
Farhanaz*, one of the protesters, told Zan Times, “The Taliban attacked us with whips. They either broke the mobile phones of the girls or took them with them, because they were afraid that a video of this violent behaviour of the Taliban would be published, but the girls still published the videos on social media.”
As protests continued in provinces across Afghanistan, the Taliban responded by locking the gates to the university or the dormitories where they lived. Banafsha*, a student at Balkh University, said, “After the demonstration of female students, the Taliban locked the gates of the dormitory. One of our classmates, who was pregnant, fainted from fear, but the Taliban did not allow us to take her to the hospital.” There was a similar reaction by the Taliban to protests at Al-Biruni University in Kapisa province.
Even as protests continued, the Taliban kept adding more restrictions to female students. On October 30, the Taliban at Badakhshan University denied entry to a large number of female students because they were not wearing burqas. When female students tried to enter the university, theTaliban stopped them and beat them, as seen on videos shown to Zan Times.
When nearly 70 female students of Badakhshan University tried to march to the offices of the provincial governor, they were met by more force. Firoza* explained what happened to Zan Times when they were surrounded by Taliban special forces, “They beat us girls with very big whips so that we thought we were going to die. But I shouted that if you kill, kill, we are not afraid of you. Every time I tried to resist, they hit harder.”
Six weeks later, the Taliban closed all universities and private educational centres to girls and women. And women continue to resist.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.
