Female Students Not Allowed to Leave Kabul For Studies - Source

KABUL (Sputnik) - The Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) has refused to allow female students to leave the Afghan capital to go to study to Kazakhstan and Qatar, an informed source told Sputnik.

Both female and male students were planning to leave Kabul, but only male students were permitted to fly out of Afghanistan for studies, the source said on Friday.

An interim Afghan government led by the Taliban came to power in September 2021, after the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the collapse of the US-backed government.

The Taliban has banned Afghan women from working outside their homes, and has introduced gender-based segregation in schools. Girls are now allowed to receive education beyond sixth grade. Moreover, the Taliban has forced all women to cover their faces while in public and women are not allowed to participate in entertainment activities and visit parks at the same time with men.

Afghan women took to the streets ahead of August 15 (the day the Taliban captured Kabul a year ago), protesting against inequality and calling for the protection of their freedom and the right to education and work.

Sources told Sputnik that the Taliban fired into the air to disperse female demonstrators in Kabul on August 13, injuring several people as a result.