At least 679 titles blacklisted, including texts on human rights, women’s rights and Western political thought.
Afghanistan‘s Taliban-run government plans to remove books written by women from university curricula.
A member of the committee reviewing textbooks confirmed the ban to BBC Afghan on Friday. The blacklisting is part of an educational decree that also prohibits education courses “deemed in conflict with Islamic Sharia”.
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The committee member told BBC Afghanistan that “all books authored by women are not allowed to be taught.”
At least 679 titles were banned due to their “anti-Sharia and Taliban policies”, he added.
Since the Taliban came to power four years ago, it has barred education for girls above sixth grade (age 12), arguing that it does not comply with its interpretation of Islam – although no other Muslim-majority country prohibits girls from being educated.
Sharia does not prohibit women and girls from education and Islam has a long tradition of female scholars and writers. The world’s oldest university in Morocco was also founded by a woman in the 9th Century.
The books affected by the Taliban’s move cover every field of study, including texts on constitutional law, Islamic political movements and the political system, as well as human rights, women’s studies and Western political thought.
A final list of banned books will be issued to universities at a later date.
A directive, which was seen by BBC Afghan, was signed by the Taliban’s deputy higher education minister, Ziaur Rahman Aryoubi, and the 50-page list of banned books was sent to Afghan universities at the end of last month.
Aryoubi said in a letter to the universities that the decisions had been taken by a panel of “religious scholars and experts” and that the banned books should be replaced with course materials that “do not conflict with Islam”.
The decree is the latest in a series of restrictions the Taliban has imposed since returning to power.
The Taliban has cracked down on many aspects of education, from firing hundreds of professors on the grounds that they “opposed” the group’s ideology to increasing mandatory religious coursework across all faculties.
Universities have also been ordered to stop teaching 18 subjects, six of which are specifically about women, including gender and development. Another 201 courses were under review.
Taliban’s nationwide ban on women attending private and public universities has been widely condemned by Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye.
‘Misogynistic mindset’
Zakia Adeli, the former deputy minister of justice before the Taliban’s return in August 2021 and author of Political Terminology and International Relations, one of the banned books, told BBC Afghan that she was unsurprised by the move.
“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,” said Adeli.
“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.”
Sources in the capital Kabul told the Independent Persian outlet that the ban on such a large number of textbooks would cripple the country’s higher education system, as universities will now have to dedicate significant resources to finding and acquiring replacements.
Alongside the female-authored books, a further 300 written by Iranian authors or issued by Iranian publishers are being targeted.
Sources, including one on the book review committee, told the BBC this was to “prevent the infiltration of Iranian content” into the country’s curriculum.
In recent years, the relationship between the two neighbouring countries has been strained, particularly over water rights. This tension has been further compounded by Iran’s ejection of more than 1.5 million Afghans who had been living in the country.