The Taliban ban books written by women from Afghan universities.

BarcelonaIn Afghanistan's universities, where only men are allowed to study, books written by women are now also prohibited: they are banned. The Taliban government has removed titles written by women from the university education system, as part of a set of new guidelines it approved at the end of August and which the BBC has been able to verify. The new rules also include a ban on teaching up to 18 subjects that deal with women. women's issues, such as gender and development, the role of women in communication, or sociology of women, which can no longer be taught because they are considered "in conflict with the principles of Sharia."

Courses on human rights and sexual harassment are excluded from the curriculum, and up to 680 books are removed from the university system because, according to the new guidelines, they are considered "worrying" due to the "anti-Sharia and Taliban policies" they would include. The books that have simply been written by women, some as sanitized as one titled Safety in the chemical laboratory, will also have to be removed from universities. A member of the committee reviewing the books confirmed the ban, telling the BBC that "no books written by women are allowed to be shown."

The Taliban crusade against women's rights It started as soon as they came to power with measures such as prohibiting girls can continue studying after primary school and prohibit the presence of women in sports or on television, and has continued to the point of banning the public sound of female voices. One of its last training avenues ended at the end of 2024, when even midwifery courses were closed. Added to this are ever-increasing restrictions. Just this week, fiber optics was banned in at least 10 provinces by order of the Taliban's supreme leader, a measure that Afghan authorities say is intended to prevent immorality.

In addition to books written by women, the new university guidelines also ban books by Iranian authors or publishers, a measure designed, as a member of the book review panel explained to the British media, to "prevent the infiltration of Iranian content" into the Afghan curriculum. The 50-page list sent to all universities in Afghanistan includes 679 titles that must be removed from the curriculum, 310 of which are written by Iranian writers or published in Iran.

"Considering what the Taliban have done over the past four years, it was not unreasonable to expect them to impose changes in the curriculum. Given the Taliban's misogynistic mentality and policies, it is only natural that when women are not allowed to study, their opinions, ideas, and ideas are also suppressed." Deputy Minister of Justice before the Taliban's return and one of the authors who has found her books on the banned list.