On Saturday, the Taliban doubled its ban on women's education, in a message to private universities that Afghan women are prohibited from taking university entrance exams, according to a spokesman.
The Taliban banned women from entering private and public universities last month. The Taliban government's minister of higher education, Nida Muhammad Nadeem, asserted that the ban was necessary to prevent the mixing of the sexes in universities - and because he believed that some of the subjects being taught violated Islamic principles.
He said in a TV interview that work is underway to fix these problems and universities will open their doors to women as soon as they are resolved.
The Taliban have made similar promises about girls' entry into middle and high schools, saying classes will resume for them once "technical issues" with uniforms and transportation are settled. But girls are still excluded from classes after the sixth grade.
Ministry of Higher Education spokesman Ziaullah Hashmi said Saturday that a message has been sent reminding private universities not to allow women to take entrance exams. He did not give enough details.
A copy of the letter, shared with the Associated Press, warned that women could not take the “entry test for bachelor, master and doctorate levels" and that if any university disobeys the edict, “legal action will be taken against the violator.”
The letter was signed by Mohammad Salem Afghani, a government official overseeing student affairs in private universities.
Entrance exams start on Sunday in some provinces while on February 27 in other places in Afghanistan. Universities across Afghanistan follow a different schedule, due to seasonal differences.
Mohamed Karim Nasari, a spokesman for the Association of Private Universities, said the institutions are concerned and sad about this latest development.
He feared that if girls' education was not resumed, no one would take the entrance exams because student numbers would be too low.
Nasari also said that private universities want the authorities to waive land taxes for universities built on government property, and waive taxes for universities in general because they incur huge financial losses.
Afghanistan has 140 private universities in 24 provinces, with about 200,000 students. Of these, approximately 60,000 to 70,000 are women. Universities employ about 25,000 people.
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