Dubai: Growing up in Kandahar, Afghanistan's far southern province, Zaram received little formal education. Nevertheless, she always hoped that her children would one day enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that had been denied to them for so long.
So she was shocked to learn in mid-December that her daughter's right to higher education had been terminated by the country's Taliban rulers.
"I wanted to be able to give my girl a better life," Zaram told Arab News, who declined to use her real name in response to the retaliation. Without that it would be impossible to get a formal education. Since I hardly went to school myself, I am unable to teach her myself.
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On 20 December, the Taliban officially imposed an immediate ban on women and girls attending colleges and universities.
Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadeem issued a statement saying, "You all are hereby informed to immediately implement the mentioned order suspending the education of women till further notice."
The next day, a group of Afghan women marched through the streets of Kabul protesting the new law and chanting, "Either all or none." One for one, one for all. And are consoling each other in front of the camera.
After the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Kabul in August 2021 and the Taliban's takeover, many Afghans had hoped it would be more moderate than the ultra-conservative group during its previous rule between 1996 and 2001.
However, those hopes were soon dashed as the group's leader, based in Kandahar, Hibatullah Akhundzadan, ordered a steady erosion of the freedoms enjoyed over the past 20 years under the US-backed Afghan government.
A month after taking back power, the regime imposed the hijab as part of a required dress code and segregated the sexes at university entrances and in classrooms.
The Taliban abruptly reversed the order on 23 March, when girls' secondary schools were set to reopen, leaving thousands of teenage girls out of class. Girls in primary school are still allowed to attend school until the sixth grade, at least for some of the time.
The Taliban issued an order in May requiring women to stay at home, cover themselves completely in public, including their faces, and travel between cities only with a male escort. In November a new rule banning women from entering parks, fairs, gyms and public baths went into effect.
On Saturday, several foreign humanitarian aid organizations announced they were leaving the country, which was in the grip of a crisis, after the Taliban banned women from working for NGOs.
In Afghanistan today, almost all girls and women over the age of 12 are prohibited from attending educational institutions. According to UNICEF, around 850,000 Afghan girls have stopped attending school.
Women and girls are currently only allowed to attend schools and universities in Afghanistan.
The Taliban elite, however, does not seem to be subject to the rules. Senior Taliban officials have reportedly enrolled their daughters in schools in Pakistan and Qatar, according to the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), an independent, non-profit policy research organization with offices in Kabul.
Taliban government spokesman Suhail Shaheen is said to have two daughters who attend school in Doha, and Taliban government health minister Qalandar Ibad is said to have a daughter who recently completed medical school.
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Since everyone in the neighborhood was going to school, our children demanded that they also go to school, a Taliban official based in Qatar told AAN. I have two daughters and three sons enrolled.
"It's completely hypocritical," said a foreign worker at a humanitarian aid organization based in Afghanistan, speaking to Arab News under the condition of anonymity.
However, Taliban leaders follow their internal logic rather than follow a universal standard of right and wrong. It serves as his main source of inspiration. They do not feel the need to defend their actions to anyone.
The Taliban are using this ban on education to tell the outside world that they are here to rule and are not afraid of any interference. There is no discussion as to whether Sharia allows women to receive education elsewhere in the Muslim world. It is surprising that Afghan scholars are debating this now.
The regime's decree has drawn a strong response. In one video making the rounds on social media, female students in the eastern Nangarhar province are seen interfering with the final exams of their male classmates because they did not support them.
Male medical students in the same province's other university department purposefully skipped their exams in opposition to the regime's decision to forbid women. Videos showing Taliban soldiers assaulting male student protesters have surfaced.
In solidarity, a number of male university employees resigned as well. During a live interview with TOLOnews that was broadcast on television, a professor from Kabul tore up his diplomas. I no longer require these diplomas as of right now because this nation is no longer a place for education. I don't accept this education if my mother and sister can't study, he told the news station.
The international community, including the Saudi government, has strongly condemned the Taliban's repression of women's rights. Foreign governments should "not interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs," the Taliban have retaliated.
The UN Security Council expressed concern about the "increasing erosion" of human rights in the nation on Tuesday and urged the Taliban to change its policies toward women and girls.
The 15-member UN Security Council called for "the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan," expressing its "deep alarm" over the growing barriers to women's education.
The Taliban were urged to "reopen schools and swiftly reverse these policies and practises, which represent a continuing erosion of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms," according to the statement.
Additionally, it warned of the negative effects on aid operations in a nation where millions depend on them by denouncing the ban on women working for NGOs.
The Taliban's promises to the Afghan people and the expectations of the international community, it said, are both violated by these restrictions.
The Taliban regime is unlikely to receive billions of dollars in desperately needed aid, loans, and frozen assets held by the US, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank unless it demonstrates a willingness to soften its hardline stance, particularly on issues relating to women's rights.
Beyond imposing sanctions and denouncing the Taliban, the international community appears to be powerless to force them to alter their ideological stance. It seems as though the Afghan people are by themselves.
The foreign humanitarian aid worker told Arab News that Afghans "have lost all faith in the regime and their ability or willingness to reverse decisions."
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If any new changes are made, I predict they will be similar to those from the 1990s, when women were only permitted to pursue higher education in the medical field for careers like nurses, doctors, and midwives.
"The public and the government don't trust each other very well. Even the ministers who disagree with the decree on education haven't spoken out about it; you just don't challenge the supreme leader.
However, given the rising courage of the populace to stand up for their rights, we are at an interesting crossroads and it will be interesting to see how this will play out.
The international community only tweets out condemnations, using the same tired platitudes, as the entire world watches in disbelief at what is happening. Women's rights are deteriorating daily in the meantime.
For Zaram, the father who lives in Kandahar, there is little chance that his daughter will receive a good education, pursue a career of her choice, or lead a fulfilling life outside the home.
"There are so many ways I feel ashamed of myself. I feel like I've let her down," Zaram said to Arab News. What will she become as an adult? What alternatives does she have? She won't possess anything. She should not be married off in the future, in my opinion. She is entitled to better.