Turkey, Saudi Arabia condemn Taliban's university ban for women
Turkey, Saudi Arabia condemn Taliban’s university ban for women
(One knows that something is really skewed when these countries think the taliban are taking woman-hatred too far!!)
Saudi Arabia expressed ‘astonishment and regret’ over the ban, while Turkey called it ‘neither Islamic nor humane’.
afghanistan
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Afghan female university students are stopped by Taliban security personnel at a university in Kabul on December 21, 2022 [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Published On 22 Dec 202222 Dec 2022
Turkey and Saudi Arabia have strongly condemned the Taliban’s nationwide ban on women attending private and public universities.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that the ban was “neither Islamic nor humane”. Speaking at a joint news conference with his Yemeni counterpart, Cavusoglu urged the Taliban to reverse the decision. “What harm is there in women’s education? What harm does it do to Afghanistan?” Cavusoglu said. “Is there an Islamic explanation? On the contrary, our religion, Islam, is not against education; on the contrary, it encourages education and science.”
The Saudi foreign ministry expressed “astonishment and regret” at Afghan women being denied a university education. In a statement late on Wednesday, the ministry said the decision was “astonishing in all Islamic countries”. They became the latest Muslim-majority countries to do so after Qatar, which has served as a mediator between the United States and the Taliban, criticised the decision.
There has also been domestic opposition to the ban, with a dozen women staging a protest in the streets of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, on Thursday, chanting for freedom and equality. “All or none. Don’t be afraid. We are together,” they chanted. Several high-profile cricketers have also condemned the decision on social media. Rashid Khan, the former captain of the national team, tweeted that women were the foundation of society. “A society that leaves its children in the hands of ignorant and illiterate women cannot expect its members to serve and work hard,” he wrote.
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Hundreds of young women were stopped by armed Taliban guards on December 21 from entering Afghan university campuses [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
The Taliban has yet to publicly comment on the ban or respond to criticism from other countries. However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, Ziaullah Hashmi, tweeted on Thursday that a news conference will be held this week to explain its decision.The Turkish and Saudi reactions to the ban are part of a growing chorus of international criticism. The United Nations special rapporteur to Afghanistan stated on Wednesday that the ban was “a new low, further violating the right to equal education and deepens the erasure of women from Afghan society”.
In a video shared with The Associated Press news agency, one woman said Taliban security forces used violence to disperse a group of protesters on Thursday. “The girls were beaten and whipped,” she said. “They also brought military women with them, whipping the girls. We ran away, some girls were arrested. I don’t know what will happen.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/22/turkey-saudi-arabia-condemn-talibans-university-ban-for-women
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