For the first time since the Taliban took power in August, certain public institutions in Afghanistan opened their doors on Wednesday, with a trickle of women attending sessions that officials insisted would be gender-segregated.
When the extreme Islamist organization surged back to power, most secondary schools for girls and all public institutions were closed, raising fears that women would be prohibited from education once more, as they had been under the Taliban’s first tenure, from 1996 to 2001.
“It’s a moment of joy for us that our classes have started,” said Zarlashta Haqmal, who studies law and political science at Nangarhar University.
“But we are still worried that the Taliban might stop them,” she told AFP.
Universities in the provinces of Laghman, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, Farah, and Helmand opened on Wednesday, according to officials.
More were set to reopen later this month in other parts of the country.
