In Afghanistan, the Taliban government has introduced a new series of restrictions in higher education, banning universities from using books written by women and from teaching subjects such as human rights and sexual harassment. The decision comes four years after the Taliban’s return to power and further restricts the space for education, especially for women and girls.
680 books on the blacklist
According to documents published by Afghan media, as many as 680 books have been classified as “problematic” because they allegedly contain content “contrary to Sharia and Taliban policy.” Among them are 140 books authored by women, including titles in the field of natural sciences such as Safety in the Chemical Laboratory. The Taliban have also sent instructions to universities to completely remove 18 subjects from the curriculum. Officials claim that these subjects are “in conflict with the principles of Sharia and the policy of the system.” Six of the banned subjects are directly related to the study of women’s status – including Gender and Development, Women’s Role in Communication, and Women’s Sociology.
This decision is only a continuation of the Taliban’s policy of systematically denying women access to education. Girls are still banned from schooling beyond the sixth grade, and the last remaining option for vocational education – courses for midwives – was quietly abolished at the end of 2024. Zakia Adeli, former Deputy Minister of Justice and one of the authors whose books have been banned, says that such a move was expected: “Considering what the Taliban have been doing over the past four years, it was clear that they would change the curricula. When women are not allowed to study, then their views and ideas are also suppressed,” said Adeli.
Taliban officials: “Decision of religious scholars”
Ziaur Rahman Aryubi, Deputy Director for Academic Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education, confirmed that the decision was made by “religious scholars and experts” who reviewed university literature. In addition to books written by women, works by Iranian authors and publishers were also targeted, as many as 310 titles on the list originate from Iran. Members of the commission said that the purpose of the ban is to “prevent the infiltration of Iranian content” into the Afghan education system.
Afghanistan and Iran have tense relations, especially over the issue of water resources and the forced return of more than 1.5 million Afghan refugees who lived in Iran.
The decision has caused serious concern among university professors. One lecturer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Iranian literature is key to maintaining the connection of Afghan universities with the global academic community: “Their removal creates an enormous gap in higher education. Now we will have to prepare teaching materials ourselves, and the question is whether they will meet international standards.”
A professor at Kabul University said that now the entire academic community finds itself in a situation where it has to write its own chapters of books, taking care of the banned topics and the guidelines imposed by the Taliban government.
Additional restrictions
This is not the only new measure restricting life in Afghanistan. This week, optical internet was banned in at least 10 provinces, which, according to Taliban officials, was done to “prevent immorality.”
Human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, had already warned earlier that Afghanistan is becoming a country where education and freedom of expression are systematically erased, and women are completely removed from public life.
