Editor’s note: The original September 2021 version of this article was lost. The Lee Daily Register rebuilt it in October 2026. Like many outlets at the time, early coverage relied on tweets attributed to Kabul University’s chancellor that turned out to come from an impostor account. This version reflects what was later established and what happened afterward.
Headlines around the world on Sept. 27 said Kabul University’s new chancellor had barred women from teaching or studying there. The claim came from a tweet under the name of Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat, the Taliban-appointed chancellor, saying women would not be allowed to come to universities or work until a “real Islamic environment” was in place.
The account was not Ghairat’s. Kabul University said in a Facebook post that fake pages in his name had been spreading misinformation and that he had no social media accounts, and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education also said the account was fake, according to an Alt News investigation republished by The Wire. The person behind it later posted that they were a 20-year-old law and political science student at the university.
What the Taliban had announced
The official policy at the time came from Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban government’s higher education minister. At a news conference in Kabul on Sept. 12, he said women could continue at universities, including postgraduate programs, but in gender-segregated classrooms and Islamic dress, and that subjects taught would be reviewed, The Associated Press reported. He said co-education would not be allowed.
What happened next
The impostor tweets were false, but women’s access to higher education did end. On Dec. 20, 2022, a Taliban government spokesman announced that women were banned from public and private universities in Afghanistan, effective immediately and until further notice, The Associated Press reported. A letter from the Ministry of Higher Education told universities to carry out the ban as soon as possible.
By then, girls had already been barred from middle and high school since the Taliban took over in 2021, and women faced limits on most employment and on visiting parks and gyms, the AP noted.
