Second-year nursing student Khadija could not sleep the whole night after one of her classmates posted on WhatsApp that the Taliban were planning to bar women from being educated as nurses or midwives.
"The next morning, we were not allowed to attend classes," said Khadija, 22, who had studied at a private medical training institute in Kabul, Afghanistan. She did not want her family name revealed for security reasons.
Overnight, all their studies were suddenly in vain, she said. "All the girls were crying but couldn't do anything."
The Taliban's Ministry of Health on Monday informed the leaders of medical training institutes in Afghanistan about the new ban on women's education in the institutes, which mainly offered classes in nursing, midwifery, medical laboratory science and dental assistance.
The next day, Khadija and the other women were barred from attending their classes.
It was the second time that Khadija had been barred from going to a university. Before starting her nursing degree, she had been a second-year economics student at Kabul University.
In December 2022, the Taliban imposed a ban on women receiving a university education, saying that female students "failed to comply" with class gender-segregation rules and dress codes.
There was a loophole, however. For the past two years, Taliban had allowed women to take classes at the medical training institutes.
That loophole closed Monday.
"After being barred from university, I thought I could continue my education by pursuing a nursing degree," said Khadija. "But now I wouldn't be able to complete it.
"All my dreams were tarnished again," she said.
'The last hope'
Another nursing student who requested anonymity told VOA that nursing school "was the last hope" for her to continue with her education.
"The Taliban banned us from going to the university where I was a political science student and now from medical institutes," she said.
The Taliban imposed repressive restrictions on women in Afghanistan after coming to power in August 2021.
Under the Taliban, women are banned from receiving a secondary or university education, working with state and nonstate organizations, traveling long distances without a close male relative, and going to parks, public baths and salons.
Afghanistan is listed last — 177th out of 177 countries — on Georgetown University's global Women Peace and Security Index of inclusion, justice and security for women.
The United Nations estimated that the annual loss from the Taliban's ban on women's employment was $1 billion, or 5% of the country's gross domestic product.
Impact on the health sector
A female lecturer at one of the medical training institutes in Kabul, who also requested anonymity, told VOA that the Taliban's new directives would take a high toll on the female teachers at the education centers.
"Now all the female teachers would be staying home," she said. "It will affect them and their families financially, and of course, it will have an impact on Afghanistan's economy."
It is not clear how the Taliban make these decisions, she said.
"If they say that it is based on Islam, then why is it different for Afghanistan than other countries?" she asked.
Wahid Majrooh, former Afghan minister of public health, told VOA that since 2021, Afghanistan has no female medical school graduates because of the Taliban ban on girls' and women's education.
He added that many female physicians left the country because of the Taliban's restrictions.
The loss of women in the country's medical sector "will not be compensated for years to come," he said.
International reaction
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a statement Thursday expressing "grave concern over this unexpected and deeply disappointing directive."
"Such a decision comes not just as a frustrating blow to the basic rights of Afghan women, but it is also likely to produce a detrimental impact on Afghanistan's healthcare system, which is facing formidable challenges," read the statement.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan warned of the "detrimental impact" of the Taliban's ban on health care.
UNAMA's statement said that "if enforced, the ban would further curtail women's rights to education and healthcare, exacerbating existing challenges in the country's medical sector."
Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights, said in a post on X that the ban "threatens to complete the erasure of women by depriving them of access to health services, including maternal and life-saving medical care."
Khadija calls on the international community to do more.
"They have not done enough. They should stand with Afghan girls and women who are protesting for their rights," she said.
Sahar Azimi of VOA's Afghan Service contributed to this story, which originated in VOA's Afghan Service.
