Germany to put university education ban for Afghan women on G7 meeting agenda
Taliban ban university education for women
Germany on Thursday will put the issue of the Taliban banning university education for women in Afghanistan on the agenda of the G7. Germany has held the presidency of the G7 since January this year.Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock hit out at the Taliban's decision and said its rulers decided to destroy Afghanistan's future by banning women from university education nationwide.
"By destroying the future of girls and women in Afghanistan, the Taliban decided to destroy their own country’s future. I will put the issue on the agenda of the G7 tomorrow."
The Taliban may try to make women invisible but won’t succeed - the world is watching," Baerbock tweeted.
Several other countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Pakistan have condemned the Taliban's decision to suspend university education for Afghanistan's women.
"Deeply dismayed by the announcement from the Taliban denying women the right to university education. Afghan women deserve better. Afghanistan deserves better," US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the ban was a "grave step backwards".
"The Taliban announced that they are suspending female students from attending universities, denying them the prospect of a better life. Equal access to all levels of education is a right to which every woman and every girl is entitled. We condemn this outrageous violation," Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly said, news agency Reuters reported.
Pakistan, while condemning the ban, urged the Taliban government to revisit its decision.
The ban by the Taliban was announced on Tuesday by higher education minister Neda Mohammad Nadeem. "You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending education of females until further notice," Nadeem said in a letter issued to all government and private universities in Afghanistan.
Women university students were anguished with the ban on access to education. On Wednesday, hundreds of women students were stopped by armed guards from entering universities. "We are doomed. We have lost everything," a student told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
"We all felt like caged birds, we hugged each other, screamed, and cried 'why is this happening to us?" another student who was pursuing nursing in Kunduz, told the news agency.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
