About 30 Afghan women protested outside Kabul University on Tuesday after authorities expelled students from dormitories for allegedly breaking rules.
The protesters claimed that all of the displaced students were women, reflecting the Taliban’s increasing restrictions on girls’ access to education.
“Today’s protest was for girls who were deported,” organizer Zholia Parsi told AFP after Taliban forces dispersed the rally.
Organizers also called for the reopening of secondary schools for girls, which have been closed since the Taliban returned to power last year.
In several cities, women have sporadically protested the harsh restrictions imposed by hard-line Islamists.
The rallies are usually quickly put down – often harshly – and journalists are increasingly prevented from covering them.
“Don’t drive us out… Education is our red line,” chanted the demonstrators in front of the university.
The Ministry of Higher Education said on Monday that an undisclosed number of students “who violated university dormitory rules and regulations” had been evicted from their accommodations.
It was not said if they were all women.
Responding to international pressure over girls’ education, Taliban officials have said the closure of secondary schools is temporary, but they have also offered a range of excuses for the closure – from lack of money to the time it takes to reshape the curriculum along Islamic lines .
Late Monday, Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada replaced the minister of higher education with a loyalist cleric, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, a government statement said.
It was the second such restructuring of the sector within a month of the appointment of a new education minister.
The Ministry of Higher Education oversees universities, while the Ministry of Education runs schools up to the 12th grade.
Nadeem, previously governor of Kabul province, has held several key positions with the Taliban for years and was the movement’s former intelligence chief in eastern Afghanistan.
Nadeem’s personal views on girls’ education are unknown and it remains unclear why his predecessor, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, was deposed.
“Given his closeness to the supreme leader and his performance, he has been entrusted with key positions,” a Taliban official who worked closely with Nadeem told AFP on condition of anonymity.
