A letter, confirmed by a spokesperson for the higher education ministry, instructed Afghan public and private universities to suspend access to female students immediately, in accordance with a Cabinet decision. | Reuters
“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 freedom of women and girls,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood told the council, describing the move as “absolutely indefensible.”
“It is also another step by the Taliban away from a self-reliant and prosperous Afghanistan,” she told the council. “It’s another very troubling move and it’s difficult to imagine how the country can develop, deal with all of the challenges that it has, without active participation of women and the education of women,” he told reporters in New York.U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva said in a statement that the decision was “devastating.”