KABUL —
About 30 Afghan women protested in front of
Kabul University on Tuesday after
authorities expelled students from the dormitories allegedly for breaking rules.
اضافة اعلان
The protesters
claimed that all the evicted students were women in a move that comes as the
Taliban has increasingly restricted girls’ access to education.
“Today’s protest
was for girls who have been expelled,” organizer Zholia Parsi told AFP after
Taliban forces dispersed the rally.
Organizers also
called for the reopening of girls’ secondary schools, which have been shut
since the Taliban returned to power last year.
In several cities,
women have staged sporadic protests against severe restrictions imposed by the
hardline Islamists.
The rallies are
usually swiftly put down — often harshly — and journalists have increasingly
been prevented from covering them.
“Don’t expel us;
... education is our red line,” chanted the protesters in front of the
university.
The
Ministry of Higher Education said Monday that an undisclosed number of students “who
violated the rules and regulations of the university’s dormitory” had been
expelled from their accommodations.
It did not say if
they were all women.
In response to
international pressure over girls’ education, Taliban officials have said the
secondary school closures are temporary, but they have also wheeled out a range
of excuses for the shutdown — from lack of funds to time needed to remodel the
syllabus along Islamic lines.
Late Monday,
Taliban supreme leader
Hibatullah Akhundzada replaced the minister of higher
education with a loyalist cleric, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, a government statement
said.
It was the sector’s
second such reshuffle in a month, following the appointment of a new Minister
of Education.
The ministry of
higher education oversees universities, while the education ministry runs
schools up to 12th grade.
Nadeem, previously
the governor of Kabul province, has for years held several key positions in the
Taliban and was formerly chief of intelligence for the movement in eastern
Afghanistan.
Nadeem’s personal
views on girls’ education are unknown, and it remains unclear why his
predecessor Abdul Baqi Haqqani was removed.
“Given his
proximity to the supreme leader and his performance he has been entrusted with
key positions,” a Taliban official who worked closely with Nadeem told AFP on
condition of anonymity.
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