Women Are Barred From Attending Kabul University For Now, Says The School Chancellor

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A man sells Taliban flags imprinted with the Muslim creed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 24.

Oliver Weiken/dpa/picture alliance via Getty

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Oliver Weiken/dpa/picture alliance via Getty

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The chancellor’s remarks suggest that the Taliban, who seized power in Kabul in August, have changed little since the hard-line Islamist movement last ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, when women and girls were barred from attending schools and universities.

However, Ghairat’s tweets appear to contradict a statement earlier this month by the newly appointed Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani, who said that women would be allowed to study at Afghan universities as long as they are segregated by gender.

The new university chancellor has been active on Twitter since his appointment a few weeks ago, promoting the school’s desire to «appoint more pro-Muslim scholars» and fending off harsh criticism over his scant academic qualifications for the post.

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He also has publicly disapproved of the way education in Afghanistan was handled previously, tweeting that «Instead of producing scientific and religious knowledge, the centers were turned into centers of prostitution and moral corruption.»

The teachers’ union of Afghanistan last week sent a letter to the government demanding Ghairat’s appointment be rescinded, in what The New York Times described as a «symbolic act of resistance.»

• Afghan Taliban
• Afghanistan