Taliban bans women from university education after vowing access to 'all' Afghans: 'They were lying'

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Taliban bans Afghan women from higher education

Fox News' Trey Yingst reports on Tailban banning all education for women and girls

Women in Afghanistan have been banned from obtaining a university education, months after the Taliban assured Fox News that "all citizens" had the right to be educated under their rule.

"They were lying," Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst said Thursday during his report on "America's Newsroom."

The ban, which is effective immediately across the entire country, was met with demonstrations that were "quickly dispersed" by the Taliban, Yingst reported.

A Taliban spokesperson told Yingst in August that "all citizens of Afghanistan, irrespective of their gender, have a right to education" under the government's "clear" policy.

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Since the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government in 2021, the Taliban has systematically cracked down on women's rights. Girls have been banned from middle school and high school, women have been restricted from most employment and must wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar urged the Taliban Wednesday to reverse its ban on girls receiving a university education. 

In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed "surprise" and "regret" at the Taliban-led government’s decision. 

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a similar statement, saying the country "expresses concern and disappointment with the Afghan caretaker government’s decision." 

Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2021 (AP)

"The Taliban will often say one thing and then do something completely different," Yingst noted. "We went to a university in Kabul, and we watched as Taliban fighters beat back women trying to enter the university."

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The U.S. and much of the globe have cut off financial aid and frozen assets belonging to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.

"This is the future of Afghanistan," Yingst concluded. "And unfortunately, so many of the civilians there are paying the highest price. Those who are not able to leave following the U.S. withdrawal are stuck there under Taliban control."

Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report