'We thought Taliban had changed': Afghan girls banned from school

Days after theTalibanstaged a cruel U-turn on allowingAfghangirlsback toschool, Adeeba Haidari feels as if she is in prison.

The 13-year-old was one of thousands of jubilantgirlswho flocked back to secondaryschoolsreopening across the country on Wednesday, for the first time since theTalibanseized power in August.

But just hours into classes, the education ministry announced a shock policy reversal that left schoolgirls feeling betrayed and the international community outraged.

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"Not only me but everyone you asked believed that theTalibanhadchanged," said Adeeba, who briefly returned to Al Fatah Girls Schoolin the capital, Kabul.

"When they sent everyone back homefromschool, we understood that theTalibanwere the sameTalibanof 25 years ago," her 11-year-old sister Malahat added.

"We are being treated like criminals just because we aregirls. Afghanistan has turned into a jail for us."

When theTalibanreturned to power, they promised a softer rule compared with their first regimefrom1996 to 2001, which became notorious for human rights abuses.

They claimed to respect women's rights, in line with their interpretation of Islamic sharia law, and saidgirlswould be allowed to study through to university.

But theTalibanhave imposed a slew of restrictions on women, effectively banning themfrommany government jobs, policing what they wear and preventing themfromtravelling outside of their cities alone.

They have also detained several women's rights activists.

"We miss our freedom. We miss our classmates and teachers," said Adeeba.

Dreams shattered

There has been no clear explanation for the last-minute reversal on secondaryschools,but reports leakedfroma secretive leadership meeting this week suggested motives rangingfromproblems with uniforms to an outright rejection of the need for education for teenagegirls.

The education ministry still insistsschoolswill restart, but only when new guidelines are issued.

Across town, Nargis Jafri,fromthe minority Shiite Hazara community, said theTalibanfeel threatened by educated women.

"They believe that if we study, we will gain knowledge and we will fight against them," the 14-year-old told AFP, sitting with her books spread out on her study table at home.

It is agonising for her to watch boys her age walking past her house on their way toschooleach morning.

"It is really hard and painful for me," she said.

Like many families, history is repeating itselffromone generation to the next.

Nargis's mother, Hamida, was forced to leaveschoolduring theTaliban's first rule when she was about 10 years old.

The storiesfromwhat shethoughtwas a distant past are flooding into her mind again.

"I used to feel strange when she told us how she wore a burqa or a chador, or how a woman was not allowed to go out without a male relative," Nargis said.

Hamida now struggles to accept a similar fate for her daughter.

"My daughter will be held backfromgoing toschool," she said. "The dreams she has in her heart will be shattered."

Watch |Taliban backtracks on announcement of reopening schools for girls in Afghanistan