Islamabad: The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has conditionally agreed to allow Afghan women to get higher education in Pakistan. This agreement depends on the condition that their male guardians, or ShamVisas are granted to go with them.
The announcement was made with admission exams on Saturday, where hundreds of Afghan students competed for places in graduates, postgraduates and doctoral programs in Pakistani universities. Afghan refugees based in Pakistan have participated in the exams in Peshawar and Quetta, while students inside Afghanistan will be taking online exams in the coming days.
Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan, revealed that about 21,000 Afghan students, including more than 5,000 women, had applied for the full funded Allama Iqbal Scholarship Program for educational sessions. Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been entrusted with the task of selecting up to 2,000 students, one -third of which are reserved for female candidates.
A Pakistani government official confirmed Pakistan’s commitment to issuing visas for guardians to ensure the Taliban’s conditional agreement on the condition of anonymity and to ensure compliance with Afghan laws. The Taliban, however, have not officially commented on the breakthrough.
Scholarship move, designed to strengthen relations between the two countries, focuses on providing education in areas such as medicine, engineering, agriculture, and computer science. Earlier, after the Taliban came to power in 2021, the girls were interrupted after a ban on education beyond the sixth grade and the ban on Afghan women from traveling without male colleagues.
This recent decision indicates a significant change between the growing criticism of Taliban sanctions on women’s rights, which the United Nations described as “sexual discrimination”. While the Taliban defend their policies in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture, demands for changing international policies remain.
Interior exams are taking place at a time when there is a strained relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which has increased due to allegations that the Taliban provide shelter to anti -Pakistan militants. Despite these tensions, the two countries are working to promote cooperation in education, trade and other sectors, with the hope of improving bilateral relations.