KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have ordered female administrative staff at universities to step down and nominate male replacements within three days or face dismissal, according to three sources who spoke to Amu.
A copy of the directive, dated December 8, has been shared with university staff, sources said.
Sources, who shared another document, said some female employees in one of the country’s universities were pressured into signing the document, which effectively forces them out of their positions.
At Herat University in the west of Afghanistan, two sources described emotional scenes as female staff members were seen crying after the directive was announced.
According to the document, the letter has been sent by the Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education to universities across the country.
Mounting restrictions on women
This latest move adds to the Taliban’s increasingly strict policies targeting women and girls since their return to power in August 2021.
Women have been barred from most jobs, excluded from secondary and higher education, and earlier this month prohibited from studying medicine.
Female employees have also been banned from working in non-governmental organizations.
Critics say the Taliban have been systematically erasing women from public life. The restrictions have drawn widespread international condemnation, with human rights groups warning of the devastating impact on Afghanistan’s society.
For many Afghan families, the removal of women from the workforce is particularly damaging. Female employees often serve as the primary breadwinners, and their forced departure deepens the nation’s economic and humanitarian crises.
The United Nations estimates that more than 20 million people in Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance. The country remains mired in rising poverty and isolation after three years of Taliban rule.
