In a stark escalation of its campaign against women’s rights, the Taliban government has commenced a widespread purge of books authored by women from Afghanistan’s male-only university system. This move is accompanied by the outright outlawing of gender studies courses, marking the latest blow to academic freedom and female intellectual contribution since the group reassumed control four years ago.
More than 600 titles, a significant portion penned by women, appear on a newly issued, 50-page blacklist of prohibited works. This sweeping directive, revealed in a late August letter from the Taliban’s deputy higher education minister to universities and subsequently reported by the Independent Persian, asserts that these texts fundamentally clash with the tenets of Sharia, or Islamic law.
Adding a chilling clarification, a committee member involved in the review process later informed BBC Afghan that, unequivocally, “all books authored by women are not allowed to be taught.”
Rahela Sidiqi, director of The Rahela Trust—a UK-based organization dedicated to supporting education for women and girls in Afghanistan—condemned the ban as “a criminal act.” She emphasized its far-reaching consequences, stating, “It not only affects females. It also affects males. It affects society, because those books were part of the curriculums of those universities.”
Beyond the literary purge, universities have also been mandated to eliminate 18 courses encompassing crucial subjects such as human rights, democracy, and women’s studies. Additionally, over 200 other courses are currently undergoing scrutiny.
“We know in the spring, there was a committee put together by the Ministry of Higher Education to do exactly this,” noted Lauryn Oates, executive director of Right to Learn Afghanistan, a Canadian group championing human rights and education for Afghan girls and women. She warned that such actions cultivate “the false idea that women don’t write books, or that women’s ideas are not worth consulting.”
According to Ms. Oates, the extensive list of removed texts and subjects clearly indicates a deep aversion to disciplines like political science and international relations. However, she also highlighted inconsistencies, suggesting that many of these decisions stem from the “individual members’ personal suspicion of the subjects.”
This current purge follows a 2022 report from Afghanistan’s higher education commission, which reviewed the school curriculum. The report identified several “deficiencies,” including the promotion of foreign cultural norms, “moral deficiencies,” and the advancement of “un-Islamic customs and practices” like music, television, and democracy.
Given the existing Taliban ban on women and girls accessing secondary and higher education, this newest wave of censorship predominantly impacts the curricula for male students. Yet, Ms. Sidiqi views this as part of a broader strategy to “restrict women from every part of life,” arguing that erasing women’s writings is an attempt to “destroy the history of their life.”
This action is integral to a more extensive overhaul of Afghanistan’s higher education system, a directive the Taliban has aggressively implemented since regaining power. Their objective is to fundamentally reshape Afghan society to align with their stringent ideology, which has already involved dismissing numerous university professors deemed to deviate from state values, suppressing campus dissent, and radically altering curricula to significantly increase compulsory religious education.
Adding another layer of control, earlier this week, internet shutdowns were imposed across several Afghan provinces. Officially attributed to curbing “misuse,” these outages effectively hindered students’ ability to participate in online classes and exchange vital information.