Afghan female students walk on their on way back home past a private university in Kabul. AFP

In another sign of domestic opposition, several Afghan cricketers condemned the university ban. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Afghanistan, and players have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

The country’s Taliban rulers earlier this week ordered women nationwide to stop attending private and public universities effective immediately and until further notice.

They have yet to publicly speak about the ban or react to the global backlash against it, although a spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, Ziaullah Hashmi, said in a tweet on Thursday that a news conference would be held this week to explain the move.

Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, since they seized power in August 2021.

They have banned girls from middle school and high school, barred women from most fields of employment and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms. At the same time, Afghan society, while largely traditional, has increasingly embraced the education of girls and women over the past two decades.

The latest condemnations of the university ban came from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that the ban was "neither Islamic nor humane.”

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Yemeni counterpart, Cavusoglu called on the Taliban to reverse their decision.

"What harm is there in women’s education? What harm does it do to Afghanistan?” Cavusoglu said. "Is there an Islamic explanation? On the contrary, our religion, Islam, is not against education, on the contrary, it encourages education and science.”

The Saudi foreign ministry expressed "astonishment and regret” at Afghan women being denied a university education. In a statement late Wednesday, the ministry said the decision was "astonishing in all Islamic countries.”

Previously, Qatar, which has engaged with the Taliban authorities, also condemned the decision.

Several Afghan cricketers called for the ban to be lifted. Player Rahmanullah Garbaz said in a tweet that every day of education wasted was a day wasted in the country's future.

Another cricketer, Rashid Khan, tweeted that women are the foundation of society. "A society that leaves its children in the hands of ignorant and illiterate women cannot expect its members to serve and work hard,” he wrote.

Another show of support for female university students came at Nangarhar Medical University. Local media reported that male students walked out in solidarity and refused to sit exams until women's university access was reinstated.

In northeastern Takhar province, teenage girls said the Taliban on Thursday forced them out of a private education training center and told them they no longer had the right to study. One student, 15-year-old Zuhal, said the girls were beaten.

Another, 19-year-old Maryam, said while crying: "This training center was our hope. What can these girls do? They were full of hope and coming here to learn. It is really a pity. (The Taliban) have taken all our hopes. They closed schools, universities, and the training center, which was very small.”

Associated Press