By Laila Yousufy
Female university students, who come from the provinces to study in Kabul, say landlords are not leasing them rooms and apartments because they fear the Taliban’s punishment.
“You are alone and single, we cannot give you room,” Sodaba, 23, a journalism student at Kabul university, said she was told by a landlord. “We will be in trouble.”
The Kabul University hostel was reopened three weeks ago when the Taliban allowed female students to return to the universities. But Sodaba said she wants to leave the hostel because she doesn’t feel safe there anymore. Girls at hostel say they hear gunshots sometimes at the midnight.
It was unclear how many female students now live in the hostel of Kabul University but the previous government’s data shows around 1,600 students from four public universities lived there.
Female students, who came from the provinces to Kabul to study at private universities, lived in rented apartments and houses under the previous government. But they can no longer do that.
“The landlord no longer wants to deal with us,” said Sama Amani, a private university student. “They say if the Taliban come and ask about your Mahrams, it will be an issue for us.”
Mahram is the male member of a family.
The hostel at Kabul University isn’t as crowded as it used to be, meaning many students haven’t returned from the provinces, female students who live there said.
Gol Afroz, another student who lives in the hostel, said the Taliban have imposed restrictions, ordering students to wear hijab even in the hallways of the all-girls-hostel. They also don’t feel safe because the Taliban male armed guards sometimes enter the hostel.
Maryam, 22, from Wardak province, said that she was in her final year at Kabul university but her family isn’t allowing her to finish due to residency problems.
“I have gone thought many struggles for a better future,” she said. “But the Taliban ruined everything.”
Taliban’s spokesperson for the Ministry of Higher Education couldn’t be reached for comment.
Farzana, a psychology student, said she was scared of the Taliban guards when she entered the hostel for the first time after the reopening of universities. She decided to leave the hostel, and now lives in a relative’s house.
Juma Khan, a realtor in Kabul, said the Taliban haven’t issued any specific instruction to ban female students from having their own apartments. But few landlords are ready to rent out rooms for female students because they fear the Taliban may punish them.
The real names have not been used in the story at the request of the interviewees
