University classes will be segregated by gender.

Yesterday, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, acting higher education minister of the Taliban, spoke about the militant group’s stance on women pursuing higher education in their occupation of Afghanistan. The organization has recently said that they would make efforts to be more respectful of women’s rights and autonomy, compared to their previous rule in which women were barred from work and education, though this statement has been met with heavy skepticism.

Haqqani said that women in Taliban-controlled territory will be permitted to continue pursuing higher education at local universities, provided the classes fall in line with the organization’s interpretation of Islamic law, and that all classes are segregated by gender. Male and female students will not be permitted to attend classes together, and female classes must be taught by a female teacher. Many Afghanistan universities already conducted their classes segregated by gender.

“The… people of Afghanistan will continue their higher education in the light of Sharia law in safety without being in a mixed male and female environment,” Haqqani said. He added that the Taliban are looking to “create a reasonable and Islamic curriculum that is in line with our Islamic, national and historical values and, on the other hand, be able to compete with other countries.”

As is frequently proving to be the case, however, the entirety of the Taliban does not seem to share a single message. Individuals within the organization have been maintaining their intense policies against women, with a recent example being a rickshaw driver who was beaten by Taliban soldiers for transporting a female professor. Some Taliban-controlled regions of the country have not heeded Haqqani’s statement, as many women are once again being barred from their careers and educations.