Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has announced plans to remove books authored by women from university curricula, marking the latest in a series of sweeping restrictions on education. A member of the Taliban-appointed committee reviewing textbooks confirmed the ban to BBC Afghan on Friday, declaring that “all books authored by women are not allowed to be taught.”
According to the committee, at least 679 titles have already been blacklisted for being “anti-Sharia and against Taliban policies.” The banned works span a wide range of academic fields, including constitutional law, political systems, Islamic political movements, women’s studies, human rights, and Western political thought. Officials say a final list of prohibited books will be circulated to universities at a later date.
The decision was formalized through a directive signed by Deputy Higher Education Minister Ziaur Rahman Aryoubi. A 50-page list of banned titles was distributed to Afghan universities at the end of last month. Aryoubi’s letter explained that the review was conducted by a panel of “religious scholars and experts,” and ordered that the blacklisted books be replaced with material that “does not conflict with Islam.”
This move follows a broader Taliban campaign to reshape Afghanistan’s education system according to their ideological framework. Since returning to power in August 2021, the group has fired hundreds of professors accused of “opposing” its policies, increased mandatory religious courses across faculties, and banned women from education beyond grade six. Universities have been forced to halt teaching in 18 subjects, six of which directly relate to women, while another 201 courses are currently under review.
Critics argue the ban is both discriminatory and destructive to Afghanistan’s fragile higher education system. Zakia Adeli, the country’s former deputy minister of justice and author of Political Terminology and International Relations—a book now on the banned list—told BBC Afghan she was not surprised. “Considering what the Taliban have done over the past four years, it was not far-fetched to expect them to impose changes on the curriculum,” she said. “Given the Taliban’s misogynistic mindset and policies, it is only natural that when women themselves are not allowed to study, their views, ideas and writings are also suppressed.”
Education experts warn the scope of the ban could have devastating consequences. Sources in Kabul told Independent Persian that prohibiting such a large number of academic works would severely cripple higher education, leaving universities scrambling to source alternative materials. The challenge, they said, will drain already limited resources and further isolate Afghan students from global academic discourse.
The Taliban’s latest decree underscores the escalating erosion of women’s rights and academic freedom in Afghanistan. For many observers, the censorship of female voices in curricula is not just an attack on women, but on the country’s intellectual and cultural future as a whole.
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