Jan 31, 2022: The Taliban’s acting higher education minister said Sunday that Afghanistan’s public universities, which had been closed since the Taliban took power in August, would reopen in February.

Minister Sheikh Abdul Baqi Haqqani told a news conference in Kabul that universities in the tropical provinces would reopen on February 2, while those in the cold regions would reopen on February 26. He did not say what arrangements would be made for the students. In the past, Taliban officials have suggested that women be taught in separate classes.

So far, the Taliban government has reopened high schools for boys only in most parts of the country. Some private universities have reopened, but in many cases, female students have not been able to return to class. On January 15, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s deputy minister of culture and information, said his education department wanted to open classrooms for all girls and women after the Afghan New Year, which begins March 21.

“We are not against education,” Mujahid emphasized in an interview with the Associated Press in the Kabul office building.

Western governments have made education for female students a part of their demands as the Taliban seek more foreign aid and the unfreezing of overseas assets.

The Taliban group took over the country on August 15 as foreign forces withdrew.

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