Amid a harrowing reality, where an Afghan woman dies every hour from childbirth complications, Pashtana Durrani voices the grim future awaiting them due to the Taliban’s latest education ban. “People often say that under the Taliban women are just left to reproduce. Well, now with this new ban, women are left to reproduce and then die on that same table because there will be nobody to help them,” Durrani told NPR about the Taliban’s new ban prohibiting the training of midwives and nurses.
Durrani is the founder of Learn Afghanistan, an organization operating secret schools in Afghanistan as well as a maternal health clinic where they trained midwives. Already one of the most dangerous places in the world for a woman to give birth, it’s about to get worse.
On Wednesday, news broke that the Taliban has reportedly prohibited women from studying midwifery and nursing, the last exemptions from their ban on female education. Women are prohibited from seeing a male medical provider and men are not allowed to train as midwives, leaving previously trained female health care professionals as the only providers of women’s health care. The United Nations Population Fund, which tracks women’s health care globally, reported in 2023 that the country needed at least 18,000 more trained midwives to ensure basic maternal care to Afghan women.
This latest ban continues to cause deep concern in the international community. Human Rights Watch, which says the ban was ordered by Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and conveyed to the Ministry of Public Health on Monday, says that this new decree “will result in unnecessary pain, misery, sickness, and death for the women forced to go without health care, as there won’t be female healthcare workers to treat them.”
Afghanistan has around 10 public and more than 150 private health institutes, with a total of 35,000 women students, reports France 24. These institutions offer two-year diplomas in 18 subjects ranging from midwifery to anesthesia, pharmaceuticals and dentistry.
The European Union has condemned the ban, calling it “yet again another appalling violation of fundamental human rights and a unjustifiable attack on women’s access to education in Afghanistan.” The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports that it is “extremely concerned about a reported directive of the de facto authorities preventing women and girls from attending classes at private medical institutions.” Robert Dickson, the Charge d’Affaires of the U.K. Mission to Afghanistan, posted on X that he is “deeply concerned” about this latest affront to women’s right to education and the further restriction on access to healthcare.
The ban, not yet confirmed by the Taliban government through official channels, has been confirmed by multiple news agencies who have talked to students affected by the ban, including the BBC, NPR and The Associated Press. Posts on X show female students crying as they learn they are no longer allowed to study.
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban has issued more than 70 decrees restricting the freedoms of girls and women. In September 2021, the Taliban stopped girls from attending secondary school beyond sixth grade. In May 2022, women were ordered to be completely covered head to toe, with only their eyes showing. By November, women were banned from parks and gyms. On Dec. 21, they were banned from attending universities and on Dec. 24, they were banned from working with national governmental and nongovernmental organizations, a move that put millions of people at risk. In July 2023, the Taliban shut down beauty salons. As reported by The New York Times, these women-only spaces were “forbidden under Shariah law and caused economic hardship for grooms’ families during wedding celebrations.” Earlier this year, the Taliban prohibited girls aged 10 and above from attending classes below sixth grade, mandated face covering for fourth through sixth graders, reiterated that public stoning of women will continue, and prohibited women from singing, reciting, laughing or reading out loud in public.
This week, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he could announce that “very considerable progress has already been made in the investigation of allegations of gender persecution” in Afghanistan. “I am confident that I will soon be in a position to announce concrete results,” said Khan.
Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, posted a photo on X on Wednesday of “women of Afghanistan at the hallways of ICC advocating for accountability for grave crimes in Afghanistan, as the prosecutor announced that he will soon request applications for arrest warrants,” referencing Khan’s statement. “Justice will prevail,” she wrote.
Habib Khan, founder of Afghan Peace Watch and formerly with The Wall Street Journal, wrote, “A powerful feminist movement is emerging in Afghanistan in response to the Taliban’s misogynistic rule, paving the way for an Afghan women’s revolution that could ultimately lead to the Taliban’s downfall.”
Rashid Khan, one of the country’s most recognizable faces in international sport, said in an online post that “Education holds a central place in Islamic teachings, emphasizing the pursuit of knowledge for both men and women.” Additionally, he said, “The acute shortage of female doctors and nurses is particularly concerning, as it directly impacts the healthcare and dignity of women. It is essential for our sisters and mothers to have access to care provided by medical professionals who truly understand their needs.”
He concludes his post with an appeal for reconsideration of the ban. “Providing education to all is not just a societal responsibility but a moral obligation deeply rooted in our faith and values.”
Originally published in the Deseret News
