CNN
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The Taliban authorities has suspended college training for all feminine college students in Afghanistan, the newest step in its brutal clampdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan girls.
A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education confirmed the suspension to CNN on Tuesday. A letter revealed by the training ministry stated the choice was made in a cupboard assembly and the order will go into impact instantly.
Girls had been barred from returning to secondary colleges in March, after the Taliban ordered colleges for women to close simply hours after they had been as a consequence of reopen following months lengthy closures imposed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
Human Rights Watch criticized the ban on Tuesday, calling it a “shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan.”
“The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don’t respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women,” the rights watchdog stated in an announcement.
The US condemns “the Taliban’s indefensible decision to ban women from universities,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated throughout a Tuesday briefing.
The Taliban’s current resolution, he stated, will “have significant consequences for the Taliban and will further alienate the Taliban from the international community and deny them the legitimacy they desire.”
The March closure of secondary colleges to ladies had a “significant impact” on US engagement with Taliban representatives, Price added.
“With the implementation of this decree, half of the Afghan population will soon be unable to access education beyond primary school,” he stated.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, the alternate consultant for particular political affairs, earlier reiterated these criticisms, telling a United Nations’ Security Council briefing that 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 freedoms of women and girls.”
The Taliban, which dominated over Afghanistan from 1996 till 2001, when the US-led invasion compelled the group from energy, have traditionally handled girls as second-class residents, subjecting them to violence, compelled marriages and a near-invisible presence within the nation.
After seizing energy in Afghanistan final 12 months, the Taliban tried to mission a extra reasonable picture to realize worldwide assist.
But whereas it has has made quite a few guarantees to the worldwide group that it might shield the rights of girls and ladies, the Taliban has been doing the alternative, systematically clamping down on their rights and freedoms.
Women in Afghanistan can now not work in most sectors, require a male guardian for long-distance journey and have been ordered to cowl their faces in public.
They have additionally imposed limits on ladies’ training, banning girls from sure workplaces as they stripped away rights they’d fought tirelessly for during the last 20 years.
In November, Afghan girls prevented from coming into amusement parks in Kabul as the federal government introduced restrictions on girls having the ability to entry public parks, Reuters studies.