In a sweeping crackdown on academic freedom, the Taliban has banned books written by women from Afghan universities and prohibited the teaching of 18 subjects deemed incompatible with Sharia law.
The banned topics include human rights, sexual harassment, gender studies, and women’s sociology, effectively erasing some of the last remaining academic spaces for discussing women’s lives.
The August 2025 decree also targets 310 books by Iranian authors and publishers, citing efforts to curb “Iranian influence” in Afghan classrooms. Even science titles like Safety in the Chemical Laboratory were removed for being “anti-Taliban.”
This move follows years of escalating restrictions since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. Girls have been barred from education beyond grade six, and midwifery courses were shut down in 2024.
The consequences of these policies were tragically underscored during a recent earthquake, where women trapped under rubble went without aid because unrelated men were forbidden from touching them.
With 2.5 million girls aged 12 and above now excluded from formal education, the ban deepens Afghanistan’s gender divide and silences critical discourse on women’s rights and roles in society.
