By: Ellaha Rasa
She stays in the four-walled fences of her house, frustrated and tired. Elham Nabizada, the girl who secured the top marks for the Kankor university entrance exam in 2022, is like a bird in a cage.
“When the decree banning female students from going to university was issued, I hoped it was a rumor,” she says. “The first thing that came to my mind was the lack of sleep I suffered during the entrance exam. I had struggled a lot to secure a result to ensure I could do my favorite field of study.”
Elham thought she would start university on February 4th, as per the usual spring semester beginning. Like most students with top results, Elham had spent years preparing for that exam to get into the university of her choice. Also overcoming a ban on girls’ high schools since August last year. It’s been a gruelling experience. She now feels that her efforts have amounted to nothing.
In Elham’s mind, the big and unanswered question she cannot get her head around is why the Taliban bans girls from an education. She knows it is not for Islamic reasons – it is not taught nor enforced by any other Islamic country.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education issued a letter on December 20 ordering the public and private universities of Afghanistan to suspend education of girls until further notice. Neda Mohammad Nadim, the Acting Minister of Higher Education of the Taliban, had signed the letter.
Nadim is considered one of the extremist figures of the Taliban. He said in a video clip that for the Taliban, religion is more important than progress and civilization. If not, the Taliban would have handed over Osama bin Laden, the founder of the Al-Qaeda network, to the United States and given freedom to women during the 1990s.
“The people of Afghanistan are better Muslims than the rest of the world,” he said, justifying the ban on girls’ education. “Hijab is mandatory in Islam and women should follow it.”
However, not all Taliban officials agree with the decision.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban, at an event called “Tax exemption and support for industry and trade” on December 25 emphasized that people should not be deprived of their rights. Bakhtar News Agency, a Taliban-owned news outlet, has published the comments, but has not provided details on the matter.
At the same meeting, Amir Khan Motaqi, the foreign minister of the Taliban said: “When we consider ourselves leaders, then our duty is to give health, economy, education, and other rights to this nation.”
For Elham, the decision has been devastating.
“These days, I have become like a corpse that breathes,” she says. “We hope for better days ahead. Those who make these decisions should think about the hopes and dreams of the girls. We really have nothing else but to go to university and school.”
She says the exclusion of women will have detrimental effects on Afghanistan’s future.
