Rashid, a student from Parwan province, earned the highest score in Afghanistan’s 2026 national university entrance examination, according to results announced Monday by the Taliban-run National Examination Authority.
Rashid scored 360 points and was admitted to the general medicine program at Kabul University of Medical Sciences, also known as Abu Ali Ibn Sina University, the authority said. He is a graduate of Mohammad Mullah Shaheed High School.
Enamullah, from Kunar province, placed second with 358 points, while Abdul Hadi, from Paktia province, finished third with 356 points.
In a Facebook post after the results were announced, Rashid thanked his family, teachers and friends, attributing his achievement to his parents’ prayers, his teachers’ efforts and God’s grace.
He said finishing first was not the end of his journey but the beginning of a greater responsibility to serve society. Addressing students who did not receive the results they had hoped for, he wrote that a single examination did not determine a person’s worth and urged them not to abandon their ambitions.
More than 117,000 candidates took this year’s entrance examination, according to the National Examination Authority. Taliban officials said 74,500 participants would be admitted to higher education institutions.
The authority also announced results for a separate national examination for religious schools. Abdul Majid, son of Abdul Aziz, from Ghor province, ranked first with 327.19 points. A graduate of Darul Uloom Ihya-ul-Uloom, he was admitted to the central Darul Uloom in Paktia province.
Khalid, son of Qimatullah, placed second in the religious schools examination with 320.4541 points. Originally from Badakhshan province and a graduate of the private Imam Shafi’i Darul Uloom, he was admitted to a jurisprudence and law program in Kabul.
The results were announced as girls remained excluded from the national university entrance examination for the fourth consecutive year, part of a broader set of Taliban restrictions that have effectively barred women and older girls from secondary and higher education.
Secondary schools have been closed to girls beyond the sixth grade for nearly five years, while universities have been closed to women for nearly four years.
