Female Students Set to Return as Taliban Reopen Universities

(Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's female students will return to classrooms now segregated by gender along strict Islamic laws as the Taliban government began reopening state universities after nearly six months.

Educational institutions in areas not hampered by extreme winter temperatures will open Wednesday, Mohammad Edris, an assistant to the Minister of Higher Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani, said over the phone. The move comes as the militant group continues to press for international recognition for its government.

Universities in snow-bound areas will resume on Feb. 26, Edris said. Female students will have to be veiled from head-to-toe, he added.

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The announcement comes as the European Parliament is hosting a two-day high-level conference that ends Wednesday to discuss the “worrying” situation of Afghan women since the Taliban took over power last year. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has also pressed the militant group on ensuring girls and women are allowed education and employment.

Reopening universities and allowing women students to return could take the group and its government a step closer to some semblance of recognition and legitimacy.

During the 20-year U.S. occupation, international aid made up more than 40% of the Afghan economy. That foreign aid was abruptly halted after the Taliban took over the country last year. Washington also moved to block the militant group from getting access to some $9 billion of Afghan assets in American and European banks.

The Taliban are “are easing some of their harsh rules” about women rights to spur the world to “recognize them, resume aid or release the frozen funds,” said Ahmad Massoud, a Kabul University professor, by phone.