It has been more than 100 days and Afghan girls are still not allowed to attend school and college classes by the Taliban government which had promised that their new regime would be different from the old one of Mullah Omar.

In a new diktat, the Taliban’s Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani says “co-education is unislamic” and the regime will not allow the concept of men and women studying together.

Without specifying the time line, Haqqani said that the Taliban government has to make separate classes for girls and hire extra women lecturers that need more time and extra budget, reported Khaama Press.

Co-education is reason behind closure of universities: Haqqani

The former student of “Jihad Factory”, the Darul Uloom Haqqaniya Madrasa in Pakistan, Abdul Baqi Haqqani made it clear that this not on their priority list and refused to answer that when girls might return to school and university classes across the country.

As if this was not enough, the Taliban minister told Afghan students that Pakistan is the best place for higher studies.

"Pakistan is an ideal country for Afghan students who seek higher education as the country is cheaper and has similarities with the Afghan people," the minister said. Lambasting the education system during the last two decades, he said that graduates from the past 20 years are of no use. Those who have studied in madrasas and have religious studies in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The Taliban that are in power, have no PhD, MA or even a high school degree, but are the greatest of all,” he boasted.

Across the country, the Taliban have been busy erasing women and girls from all aspects of public life. Even their images on posters and billboards, once common, have been painted

over.

But many Afghan girls refuse to be erased.  “As the Taliban are trying to silence women in Afghanistan they keep protesting against Taliban rule and demanding their rights. These young girls protest today in Kabul a day after the Taliban banned women from traveling alone and listening to music,” says Zahra Rahim, an Afghan journalist.

"If I have any chance, I will leave. Until now, I decided not to leave Afghanistan because I love my country a lot — even, I love more than my heart, my body… But right now, because of my children, I have to go,” says Najmussama Shafajo, a mother of two college going daughters.

An Afghan-American, Mehbooba Seraj who has been a women's rights activist for decades says that she is going to be with them for as long as she can, as long as she has the life and the energy to be.

“My girls, my dears, my daughters — just take a deep breath… don't lose hope… Don't despair, because something is going to happen. I can promise you that much,” Seraj told the girls.

One former teacher of a girls school told the BBC thay "the students are really upset, they're

suffering mentally. I try to give them hope but it's hard because they are

exposed to so much sadness and disappointment."

Earlier the Taliban had announced on Sunday that women seeking to travel long distances will not be allowed on road transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative.

The new guidance, circulated on social media networks, also asked people to stop playing music in their vehicles.

Also Read : Imran Khan’s odious shocker—girls have no right to education under Af-Pak social code