Women will no longer be allowed to attend classes or work at Kabul University "until an Islamic environment is created," the school's Taliban-appointed chancellor announced Monday. The move is the latest push by the radical group to exclude Afghan women from public life.
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Shortly after taking control of Afghanistan in August, the Taliban vowed to respect women's rights and allow them to study in gender-segregated universities. Monday's move, however, effectively shuts them out of one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan.
"As long as real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work. Islam first," Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat said on his official Twitter account, according to CNN.
He later tweeted a "clarification," saying "I haven't said that we will never allow women to attend universities or go to work, I meant that until we create an Islamic environment, women will have to stay at home. We work hard to create [a] safe Islamic environment soon."
Earlier on Monday, Ghairat tweeted in Pashto that "Due to shortage of female lecturers, we are working on a plan for male lecturers to be able to teach female students from behind a curtain in the classroom. That way an Islamic environment would be created for the female students to get an education."
The appointment of the Taliban hardliner as the new chancellor of Kabul University sparked a furore on social media, with many warning that his old tweets showcase his fundamentalist and perilous views.
Following his appointment, Ghairat tweeted that he would "cleanse Kabul University of Western and infidel thoughts, vulgarity and moral corruption." The tweet was later deleted.
In an older tweet, he advocated the elimination of journalists, writing, "A spy journalist is more dangerous than a 100 Arbaki [soldiers]. I doubt [the] faith of who restrain from killing journalists. Kill Spy Journalists. Contain Media."
According to CNN, outlining his vision for Kabul University Ghairat said he seeks to make the school "a hub for all real Muslims around the world to gather, research and study" and to "Islamicize the modern science."
"I am here to announce that we will be welcoming pro-Muslim scholars and students to benefit from a real Islamic environment," he wrote on Twitter.
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