Women Allowed To Attend University Under New Rule: Taliban Acting Minister

The hardline Islamist group that stormed to power in mid-August after ousting the Western-back government have vowed to rule differently compared to their 1990s stint when girls and women were banned from education.

Afghan women will be allowed to study at university but there would be a ban on mixed classes under their rule, the Taliban's acting higher education minister said on Sunday. The hardline Islamist group that stormed to power in mid-August after ousting the Western-back government have vowed to rule differently compared to their 1990s stint when girls and women were banned from education. "The... people of Afghanistan will continue their higher education in the light of Sharia law in safety without being in a mixed male and female environment," Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban's acting minister for higher education said at a meeting with elders, known as a loya jirga, on Sunday. He said the Taliban want to "create a reasonable and Islamic curriculum that is in line with our Islamic, national and historical values and, on the other hand, be able to compete with other countries".