35,000 futures in limbo: Afghan women's careers halted after medical training ban - Video
Afghan women pursuing careers in healthcare have been dealt a devastating blow after the Taliban government ordered their exclusion from medical training programs.
The verbal directive, said to have been issued by the Taliban's supreme leader and passed down through the health ministry, has left thousands of female students in limbo.
For many Afghan women, healthcare training was a rare and vital pathway to education and employment. Now, with that path closed, the prospects for women in Afghanistan grow even bleaker.
“This was my last hope to do something, to become something,” said Saja, a nursing student in Kabul who spoke to AFP under a pseudonym. “Everything has been taken away from us for the crime of being a girl.”
The ban applies to both public and private healthcare training institutes offering two-year diplomas in nursing, midwifery, dentistry, and laboratory work. These institutions had become a refuge for women barred from universities after the Taliban banned their attendance two years ago.
Yasamin, another student affected by the ban, expressed her despair at the sudden shutdown of her educational aspirations. “I was in my eighth semester of medical studies [at a university before women were barred],” she said. “We were banned from medical school, so we were hoping to get a midwifery degree and serve our country that way. Now that the school has closed, all our hopes are gone.”
According to sources within the health ministry, an estimated 35,000 women were enrolled in over 160 institutions offering healthcare training. These institutes were given a few days to organise final exams before enforcing the ban.
The Taliban authorities have yet to officially comment on or confirm the decision, despite mounting international condemnation and calls for a reversal.
Since retaking power in 2021, the Taliban government has imposed severe restrictions on women, including prohibiting girls from attending school beyond the primary level, making Afghanistan the only country in the world to enforce such a ban.
