As the Taliban advances, students fear for their lives and higher education

AFGHANISTAN

Never in the history of the conservative and remote corners of Afghanistan have so many girls made it to a higher education as in recent years of relative peace. Now, in the midst of rapid and deadly advances by armed Taliban insurgents, these achievements – and their lives – are in jeopardy.

After the US withdrawal, the Taliban, after capturing nearly 200 rural and suburban counties, launched deadly attacks on large cities last week, causing panic and fear among millions of civilians.

On Thursday, August 12, Taliban troops took control of the country’s second largest city, Kandahar, and Herat, and Lashkargah fell on Friday. The Taliban also marched against Fayzabad, Ghazni and Taluqan.

“It was our hope and dream to stand side by side with our brothers to rebuild our country, help the children with education and become ‘angels of salvation’ for the sick and wounded,” said Shagufta Amiri the southeastern province of Logar, said University World News.

She and many young people watch helplessly as their prospects for higher education are shaken as the shock waves of Taliban advances resonate across the country.

All colleges, universities and schools in Logar and in many other provinces had to close because of the risk of war. The capital of Logar, Pul-e-Alam, where Shagufta Amiri lives, continues to be besieged by armed Taliban.

As a last resort, many female students in Kabul took to the streets earlier this week demanding that they move to institutions in the relatively safe capital, away from the deadly turf war in the provinces.

Many of the protesting students said their admission to universities in now uncertain provinces and the escalation of the war had made further study impossible.

Do not deprive us of our right to education

The protesting students gathered in front of the presidential palace in the heavily guarded green zone in Kabul to protest the deteriorating security situation in the country and called for the transfer of unsafe provincial universities to Kabul.

They chanted slogans like: “Transfer is our right! Let us not close the gates of knowledge through war! Don’t send us to war zones! Do not make us victims of these wars! Don’t take away our right to education! “

Tahmina, a medical student at Khost University – a public institution in the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan – took part in the protest. She told University World News that the government should not forget about security concerns in remote provinces, particularly with regards to girls’ education.

“All provinces have security problems, especially the provinces where we are [protesting students] are. The provinces are far away, we cannot calmly continue studying there. “

One of the mothers of the protesting students, whose daughter is studying in Nangarhar Province, said the security situation in all provinces is too volatile for parents to be comfortable with the security and future of their children.

“The security situation is not good and we cannot send our girls there,” she said.

Afghan Ministry of Higher Education spokesman Hamed Obaidi said in a contact that students should raise their concerns with his leadership. “The doors of the Ministry of Higher Education are open to students and it is our duty to solve students’ problems,” he said.

“That is why our proposal to the dear students is that the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education is obliged to respond to the demands of the students and, as far as possible, to address their problems in accordance with the laws and regulations.”

Profits lost in war

The Afghan capital Kabul has taken in thousands of internally displaced war refugees who pour into the relatively safe city every day from conflict-torn cities and provinces.

There are serious concerns about the erosion of many of the profits that have been made over the past 20 years.

Students in a number of cities and towns who have fallen either wholly or in part to the Taliban told University World News by phone that the education offensive – most recently interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic – had hardly returned to normal when the escalation the war ended another heavy blow.

“The university administration has told us to stay home until further notice,” said Sahil Serat, a private university student in northern Takhar province who was captured by the Taliban earlier this week.

Universities in Afghanistan only reopened last week after months of closure due to health threats from the Delta variant of COVID-19.

While the Taliban attacked cities, there have been numerous reports by human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch that Taliban militants have been implicated in war crimes, forced marriages and kidnappings of those in cooperation with the government in areas that have now fallen to the group were suspected.

The Taliban have categorically rejected the reports.

Fawzia Koofi, a member of the Afghan parliament from the fallen Fayzabad, has called on the Taliban to respect the human dignity of civilians, especially women.

“Thousands of women and children have fled the Taliban and are now refugees in their own country,” she said, appealing online for help and support for those in need.

“Women and girls have fled because of insecurity and lack of food. My plan is to go to Badakhshan and help my people – and help as many women and children as possible. Food, clothes, sanitary towels, soap – they were left without anything. They have nothing, ”said Kofi, a member of the Afghan government’s peace delegation and survivor of at least two deadly attacks.