‘Wish this was a nightmare’: Anger, despair among Afghan women shut out from universities

A journalism student at a university in Kabul said that when she and her friends reached the campus, Taliban men were standing outside the gate with guns in hand. Many students tried to force their way in, and were assaulted with sticks.

“Those who did not return and tried to open the gates were abused, thrashed. They said if we don’t obey, we will be killed. Girls were crying, shouting but no one listened,” said this student, who had her exam Wednesday but wasn’t allowed to write it.

“We can’t study, we can’t step out, we can’t watch movies, TV and videos or play games on phones. They say that we should stay at home and only perform namaaz. This life is worse than jail,” said the student, whose younger brother attends school. “They have issues with the existence of women. How can one expect such a mentality to change?”

The Taliban’s latest action, after its ban on school education of girls from classes 7 to 12, has reignited women’s protests for right to education and they are back to the streets in Kabul.

On Thursday, a group of students protested near Kabul University. Locals said that they were beaten and even whipped by Taliban men. One of the protesters said: “Today again they turned violent and tried to stop our protest. They openly thrashed and lashed the girls who were protesting for our right to education.”

Women students said they are getting open death threats from the Taliban — but said that this would not deter them from pressing for education for girls, both at school and university level.

Another student, in her early twenties, said her friends were beaten in front of her when they tried to enter the campus. “Sticks, hands… They were beating women and touching them inappropriately. They say that in Islam, a woman has no right to study and she is meant only to give birth to a child. Every minute here is suffocating now. My father works in Iran because there are no jobs in Kabul. We do not have any future left here,” she said.

She said that it wasn’t just about studies, but the existence of women that irks the Taliban. “If we go out, we have to hear comments on our clothes. They said that what we wear is not Islamic, we should wear long dresses and nothing except our eyes should be visible. Some women tried to shoot videos when they were thrashing them outside the college, and their phones were snatched,” she said.

A college teacher said: “The gates of universities have been closed for girls for an indefinite period. The Taliban released an official document across the country that girls can’t go to university till an unknown time. They were not telling us a specific reason but just told us that it was an official command from their leader.”

Another student said that when they reached the campus, armed men were standing outside and they chased them away from entering inside. “The girls who kept banging the gate got a thrashing,” she said.

A teacher from a higher education institute in Kabul said that she reached the campus Thursday as an exam was scheduled. “But the Taliban came and stopped the exam midway and said that as per government order, girls cannot write exams or study here. They told us to go home.”

Another university teacher said: “Some women gathered courage to protest against the ban but most are still confined to homes because they are being threatened with dire consequences if they raise their voice. The Taliban is openly committing atrocities against women in the 21st century but no one in the world seems to be listening… How can this be true? I wish this was a nightmare.”

The journalism student mentioned above spoke about her dream of being a television journalist. “I like listening to people and their stories. I want to help them by bringing out stories of people who are in need but all our dreams are being killed.”

She added: “I want to leave this country. How can one live in a jail? I wish I could turn back the clock and the Taliban never took over our beautiful country. I cannot express in words what they are doing to women here. I don’t have money to migrate from here but I really want to go and study,” she said.