Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have ordered universities to remove books authored by women from their curricula, in a sweeping move that further restricts academic freedom and erases female voices from higher education.
According to Afghan officials, the Ministry of Higher Education has blacklisted 679 textbooks following a review by a panel of religious scholars and government-appointed experts. Among these, 140 are written by women. The ban also targets at least 310 books either published in Iran or by Iranian authors, reflecting the Taliban’s increasing hostility towards what it considers foreign or politically suspect influence.
The new directive instructs universities to discontinue teaching 18 subjects outright, including human rights, women’s studies, and sexual harassment. A further 201 courses remain under review for compatibility with the group’s interpretation of Sharia law and Taliban ideology.
Ziaur Rahman Aryoubi, deputy minister of higher education, said the panel had been tasked with identifying content “contrary to Islamic values and national interests.” The announcement follows a series of measures introduced since the Taliban regained power in 2021, which have dismantled women’s access to education at every level. Girls have been barred from secondary schools, women banned from universities, and now even their work as writers and academics is being systematically excised.
The decision has provoked alarm among Afghan academics. Several professors told international media that finding replacements for the newly banned books would be close to impossible, particularly in fields such as law, journalism and sociology where standard texts are often authored by women. Others warned that the purges would hollow out entire disciplines and leave students with little more than state-approved religious instruction.
The ban also extends to textbooks on women’s rights and gender equality, areas that had been introduced to university programmes after 2001 with international backing. Rights groups argue that their removal reflects the Taliban’s determination to erase not just women’s presence from education, but also any academic discourse that challenges their strict social codes.
Amnesty International called the move an “escalation of the Taliban’s war on women’s rights,” warning it would entrench Afghanistan’s isolation and deprive a generation of students of meaningful education. The United Nations, which has repeatedly urged the Taliban to reverse restrictions on women and girls, said the ban represented another breach of Afghanistan’s obligations under international law.
