The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has conditionally agreed to allow Afghan women to pursue higher education in Pakistan. This arrangement depends on the condition that their male guardians, or Mahrams, receive visas to accompany them.
The announcement coincided with the entrance exams held on Saturday, where hundreds of Afghan students competed for places in graduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs at Pakistani universities. Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan attended the tests in Peshawar and Quetta, while students from Afghanistan are scheduled to take the online exams in the coming days.
Pakistan’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq revealed that approximately 21,000 Afghan students, including more than 5,000 women, had applied for the upcoming academic sessions under the fully funded Iqbal Allama Scholarship Programme. Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) is tasked with selecting up to 2,000 students, with one-third of the places reserved for female candidates.
A Pakistani government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Taliban’s conditional agreement and Pakistan’s commitment to issuing visas for the guards to ensure compliance with Afghan laws. The Taliban, however, has not officially commented on this development.
The scholarship initiative, designed to strengthen ties between the two nations, focuses on providing education in fields such as medicine, engineering, agriculture and computer science. It had previously been discontinued after the Taliban regained power in 2021, banning girls’ education beyond sixth grade and restricting Afghan women traveling without male companions.
This recent decision marks a significant change amid growing criticism of the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s rights, which the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid.” While the Taliban defend their policies as complying with Islamic law and Afghan culture, international calls for policy reversals persist.
The entrance exams come at a time of strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, exacerbated by accusations that the Taliban harbors anti-Pakistan militants. Despite these tensions, both nations are working to foster cooperation in education, trade and other sectors, in hopes of improving bilateral relations.
