‘Women can study, but classrooms will be gender-segregated’

Girls walk upstairs as they enter a school before class in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. Pic/AP/PTI

Women in Afghanistan can continue to study in universities, including at post-graduate levels, but classrooms will be gender-segregated and Islamic dress is compulsory, the higher education minister in the new Taliban government said on Sunday. The minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, laid out the new policies at a news conference, several days after Afghanistan's new rulers formed an all-male government.

The world has been watching closely to see to what extent the Taliban might act differently from their first time in power, in the late 1990s. During that era, girls and women were denied an education, and were excluded from public life.

The Taliban have suggested they have changed, including in their attitudes toward women. However, they have used violence in recent days against women protesters demanding equal rights. Haqqani said the Taliban did not want to turn the clock back 20 years. "We will start building on what exists today," he said.

However, female university students will face restrictions under the Taliban, including a compulsory dress code. Haqqani said hijabs will be mandatory but did not specify if this meant compulsory headscarves or also compulsory face coverings.

Afghan women airport workers are pictured at a security checkpoint of the airport in Kabul on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Gender segregation will also be enforced, he said. "We will not allow boys and girls to study together," he said. "We will not allow co-education." Haqqani said the subjects being taught in universities would also be reviewed but did not elaborate. The Taliban, who subscribe to a harsh interpretation of Islam, have banned music and art during their previous time in power.

PIA to resume flights to Kabul

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced that it has decided to resume commercial flights to Kabul starting from Monday onwards. "The official flag carrier of Pakistan is going to start again its flight operations for Kabul," Arshad Malik, CEO of the PIA, told Xinhua news agency. Malik added that the first flight will leave for Kabul on Monday from Islamabad.

‘No notification on freezing of assets'

Da Afghanistan Bank (DBA), the country's central bank, announced on Sunday that it has not received any formal notification so far concerning freezing of its assets. "So far, Da Afghanistan Bank has not received any formal notification pertaining to the freezing of monetary reserves of this bank," the bank said in a statement posted on its website.

‘No one should use Pakistani currency'

Afghans are stressing that no one should use the Pakistani currency and those using it should be punished. A number of people have reacted to a report in a Pakistani newspaper that said business deals in Afghanistan should be based on Pakistani rupees, Pajhwok News reported. Daily Jang, a Pakistani newspaper in a report quoted the country's Finance Minister, Shawkat Tareen as saying that Afghanistan faced shortage of dollar reserves and that would be the reason Afghanistan would make transactions in Pakistani rupees.

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