KEY POINTS
- The Taliban kicked Bilqees Mohmand out of college after announcing a ban on university education for women.
- Her dream of becoming a doctor has since been shattered.
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong has condemned the Taliban's announcement in a joint statement with 12 other countries.
With books in hand, Bilqees Mohmand entered her college building with a sense of trepidation.
Hours earlier, she was devastated to hear that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers had imposed an immediate .
But the 18-year-old studied English at a language academy in Kabul and was naively hopeful that she could continue with her studies there.
I wish I wasn't born in this country.Bilqees Mohmand
When she entered her classroom with her female peers, a Taliban officer followed and told them they were not welcome to pursue their studies.
"[The Taliban] told us that you are not allowed here, you have to leave this space. And we were extremely sad. Suddenly we started crying," she told SBS News.
Not long after she had walked in on Tuesday, she went back home, describing it as "the worst day of my life".
"We don't have any life in Afghanistan anymore. I wish I wasn't born in this country," she said.
Ms Mohmand recently completed high school and was preparing to apply to a private university in Kabul, where she lives, in the hope of studying medicine.
Now, she said her dream of opening a hospital in Afghanistan has been shattered.
"A day of education without students is a day wasted for the future of the country," she said.
"Maybe in the future, [The Taliban] will never allow a woman to take their feet out of the house."
'Dressing like they were going to a wedding'
The Taliban's higher education ministry declared that university education was off-limits for women due to their lacking adherence to the Islamic dress code.
Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the minister for higher education in the Taliban government, said on Thursday that female students had ignored Islamic instructions - including on what to wear or being accompanied by a male relative when travelling.
"Unfortunately after the passing of 14 months, the instructions of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Islamic Emirate regarding the education of women were not implemented," Mr Nadeem said in an interview on state television.
"They were dressing like they were going to a wedding. Those girls who were coming to universities from home were also not following instructions on hijab."
Mr Nadeem also said some science subjects were not suitable for women.
"Engineering, agriculture and some other courses do not match the dignity and honour of female students and also Afghan culture," he said.
Latest in Taliban measures against women
Universities are the latest sphere blacklisted for women after the Taliban also banned them from parks, gyms, amusement parks and public baths in November this year.
Marwa Moeen only narrowly escaped the fate of almost 20 million females in Afghanistan, after escaping the country in August last year during the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
Marwa Moeen was a university student in Afghanistan before the Taliban took over. Source: SBS News
Since they resumed power, university classes were ordered to become gender-segregated and secondary education for girls has been banned too, despite an earlier promise to re-open them in March this year.
Ms Moeen said the Taliban's recent slew of bans on public affairs for women is an indication that their rhetoric was untrue.
"[The Taliban] said we won't close universities, we won't close schools, we won't close the shops or work opportunities for girls. Now they show their true face," she said.
"This Taliban: they were animals and they are animals."
She was studying a bachelor's degree in business administration before she fled to Australia last year.
Now, with a passion to tell the stories of the "strength" of Afghan women, she has been offered a position at the University of Technology to study journalism next year.
But she looks back with a sense of despair: her sister, who is stuck in Afghanistan, can no longer complete the medical degree she was studying.
"It is not only my sister over there. It is for all girls living there. They're all my sisters. They're all my friends. It is heartbreaking for them."
Ms Moeen likened women receiving an education to a critical mission that needed to be accomplished.
"Imagine if any mission is incomplete - how people working on that mission would feel?"
Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined the chorus of condemnation against the Taliban's university ban on Thursday.
Senator Wong signed a joint statement with 12 countries as well as the European Union condemning the "relentless and systemic" measures by the Taliban against girls and women.
"Afghan women's ingenuity and dynamism are needed urgently to help relieve profound and staggering economic and humanitarian needs," the statement said.
"Taliban policies designed to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries engage with the Taliban.
"Our foremost concern will continue to be the welfare, rights, and freedoms of the people of Afghanistan."
