<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Male students trickled back to their classes Monday after Afghan universities reopened following a winter break, but women remain barred by Taliban authorities.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The university ban is one of several restrictions imposed on women since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021, and has sparked global outrage -- including across the Muslim world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's heartbreaking to see boys going to the university while we have to stay at home," said Rahela, 22, from the central province of Ghor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is gender discrimination against girls because Islam allows us to pursue higher education. Nobody should stop us from learning."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Taliban government imposed the ban after accusing women students of ignoring a strict dress code and a requirement to be accompanied by a male relative to and from campus.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most universities had already introduced gender-segregated entrances and classrooms, as well as allowing women to be taught only by female professors or old men.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several Taliban officials say the ban on women's education is temporary, but despite promises, they have failed to reopen secondary schools for girls, which have been shuttered now for over a year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They have wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure -- from a lack of funds to the time needed to remodel the syllabus along Islamic lines.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The reality, according to some Taliban officials, is that the ultra-conservative clerics advising the country's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada are deeply sceptical of modern education for women.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since taking power the Taliban authorities have effectively squeezed women out of public life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Women have been removed from many government jobs or are paid a fraction of their former salary to stay at home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are also barred from going to parks, fairs, gyms and public baths, and must cover up in public.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rights groups have condemned the restrictions, which the United Nations called "gender-based apartheid".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The international community has made the right to education for women a sticking point in negotiations over aid and recognition of the Taliban regime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No country has so far officially recognised the Taliban government. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>