The deputy spokesman for the Taliban, Bilal Karimi, justified The decision to ban women’s education at the universitythat it is the duty of the movement to organize the affairs of education and development in Afghanistan in accordance with the provisions of Sharia.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiya, he said that the Taliban granted women rights that did not exist in the past.
The deputy spokesman for the Taliban, Bilal Karimi, also downplayed the importance of the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan, describing it as an invisible takfiri phenomenon.
He confirmed that the movement had destroyed 98% of the organization’s hideouts, pointing out that there was no popular incubator for it in Afghanistan.
This interview will be presented to the Taliban’s deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, in full today, at sixteen GMT, seven in the evening Saudi time, on Al-Arabiya.
It is noteworthy that the Taliban had decided, last month, to ban university education for women in Afghanistan indefinitely, according to a letter sent by the Ministry of Higher Education to all public and private universities.
The letter, signed by Minister Nada Muhammad Nadeem, said: “I inform all of you to implement the aforementioned order to stop female education until further notice.”
And the Minister of Higher Education of the Taliban said, in other statements following the global reactions condemning the decision, that “if they drop an atomic bomb on us, we will not back down” from the decision to ban university education for women.
He added, “We are ready for sanctions imposed on us by the international community.”
Not only did the Taliban’s decisions stop at preventing girls from university education, but the movement also issued orders to non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan to prevent them from employing women, without specifying whether this includes foreign workers.
The movement justified the decision by not following the appropriate dress code, including the hijab, and threatened to suspend the licenses of organizations that do not implement the decision.
The move drew condemnation from the international community and fears of its impact on the delivery of aid, and comes as part of a series of decisions taken by the movement restricting the freedom and rights of women in the country.
The Taliban movement did not stop its plan to suppress women. Al-Arabiya sources reported two days ago that the Taliban government set a 10-day deadline to close women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan.
The sources added that the Taliban also decided to prevent girls from working in commercial centers.
Even before that, women were excluded from most public jobs or given low wages to entice them to stay at home.
Women are no longer allowed to travel without a male family member, and must wear the burqa.
In November, the movement banned women from parks, gardens, gyms and public swimming pools.