The Taliban authorities ordered an indefinite ban on university education for Afghan girls on Tuesday, according to a letter sent to all government and private universities.
“You all are informed to implement the mentioned order of suspending the education of females until further notice,” said the letter signed by Minister for Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem.
The order was confirmed in a text message to AFP by the ministry’s spokesman, Ziaullah Hashimi, who tweeted the letter.
The ban on higher education comes less than three months after thousands of girls and women across the country took university entrance exams, with many aspiring to careers in engineering and medicine.
Following the country’s takeover by hardline Islamists in August last year, universities were forced to implement new rules such as gender-segregated classrooms and entrances, with women only permitted to be taught by female professors or elderly men.
Most adolescent girls in the country have already been barred from attending secondary school, severely limiting university enrollment.
