France denounces Taliban move to block Afghan women’s medical training

PARIS: France on Thursday condemned as “unjustifiable” the Taliban government’s reported plan to ban Afghan women from attending nursing schools.

An Afghan health ministry source and managers from private medical institutes, whose courses include midwifery and nursing, told AFP on Tuesday that the public health ministry had issued a directive from the Taliban supreme leader to suspend women’s attendance.

There has been no official Taliban government confirmation of the ban, but institute employees said they had been given 10 days to hold final exams before women would be barred.

“This decision comes on top of countless violations of women’s and girl’s rights committed by the Taliban since they took power by force… more than three years ago,” said foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine.

Afghan training centres say women to be barred from health studies

“France urges the Taliban to immediately reverse all restrictions imposed on women and girls,” he added.

The ban would be the latest restriction on women’s education since the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Women and girls have been barred from secondary school and university as part of restrictions the United Nations has dubbed “gender apartheid”.

Women students have since flocked to health institutes, which offer courses in a dozen health-related subjects, with some 35,000 enrolled, health ministry sources said.

UN mission to Afghanistan, UNAMA, urged the Taliban government on Wednesday to “reconsider implementing” the rule.

“If implemented, the reported directive poses further restrictions on women and girls’ rights to education and access to healthcare,” UNAMA said.

Amnesty International said the ban would “have devastating consequences for the health of women in the country that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world”.