A sort ofThat day Taliban Here, Zafira is sitting with her college classmates studying for a bachelor’s degree. Suddenly, it was rumored that Taliban militants had entered the city. Then panic broke out and Zaafirah recalled that she, like all the students in this article, was actually called by a different name. The students called their families, and many wanted to escape. At first, she made progress in the car, but the street quickly became crowded and she had to continue walking. “I was wearing high heels, and once my shoes were stained with blood. But out of fear, I didn’t feel any pain,” she said. This Sunday, August 15th, is her last day in college.
Since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, the operation of the university has almost completely ceased. It is true that there are reports that the reopening is progressing vigorously; however, many students are not clear about how they should proceed. Last Sunday, the Taliban Minister of Higher Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani announced what many people worry about: women are not allowed to study with men. The Taliban will create “a reasonable and Islamic curriculum that conforms to our Islamic, ethnic and historical values.” But exactly what higher education under the Taliban will look like is still unclear, including the extent to which female apprenticeship is actually possible under these new conditions. What is worrying is that, among other things, there are not enough female lecturers to continue teaching all female students under gender segregation. In this uncertainty, women are currently waiting at home, worrying that their future will only be housewives, not careers. This was the case in the last Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. At the same time, many male lecturers are afraid of compensating for their previous commitments and critical comments to the Taliban.
