• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

David Hume Kennerly

Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer

  • Images
    • Galleries
      • In and Out of Afghanistan
      • Greatest Hits
      • 2021 Inaugural Gallery
      • Ford Museum Exhibit
      • Election 2016
      • Hillary Clinton from the Archives
    • Pulitzer Prize Portfolio
  • About
    • Bio
    • Clients
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Kennerly Archive
  • Fine Prints
  • Speaking

Archives for December 2022

December 24, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Afghan Women Banned from Universities

Women students attend a university class in Afghanistan
Women students attend a university class in Afghanistan

Ten years ago, in 2012, I traveled around Afghanistan giving lectures on a free press and America’s First Amendment protections. Some of my best students were women at Afghanistan's major universities. I took this of some of them during one of my classes.

Teaching a class the majority who were women (photo by Esperanza Tilghman)
Teaching a class the majority who were women (photo by Esperanza Tilghman)

This week the Taliban issued a statement saying, "Female students have been banned from private and public universities in Afghanistan effective immediately and until further notice." This is the latest edict cracking down on women's rights and freedoms. The ban further restricts women's education because girls have been excluded from secondary schools since the return of the Taliban last year.

Higher education minister Nadim (courtesy Afghanistan News)
Higher education minister Nadim (courtesy Afghanistan News)

The Taliban minister of higher education Nida Mohammad Nadim said he issued the decree to avoid the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam. He pushed back against international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, saying “that foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.”

Women in art class
Women in art class
06CalligraphyKabul-1 copy

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the Taliban that the United States will impose “costs” on the group if it does not reverse the ban. He said that the government in Kabul will not be able to improve relations with the rest of the world if it continued to deny Afghan women their fundamental rights.

Taliban security forces in the Afghan capital enforced the sanction by blocking young women’s access to the schools. Associated Press video showed women weeping and consoling one another outside a Kabul campus.

Women attending my lecture
Women attending my lecture
A scene of the past, a female student in university class, 2012
A scene of the past, a female student in university class, 2012

So it’s back to the Stone Age in Afghanistan. If you wondered if the Taliban were going to become enlightened rulers, here's your answer.

Burqa-wearing women on the streets of Kabul
Burqa-wearing women on the streets of Kabul

https://kennerly.com/blog/afghan-women-banned-from-universities/

Filed Under: Blog

Primary Sidebar

Blog Archives

  • May 2025
  • January 2025
  • November 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • December 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • June 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • October 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • May 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2012
  • May 2012

© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Web Design by KRMD Author: David Hume Kennerly