WILL NEW MOVE ALLOW AFGHAN WOMEN TO VOTE?

KABUL: The Taliban said on Tuesday they will temporarily adopt a 1964 constitution that grants women the right to vote but eliminates any elements they disagree with.

The Taliban’s acting justice minister issued a statement on Tuesday saying the group planned to introduce a constitution used during Afghanistan’s short-lived golden age of democracy, but only briefly and with amendments.

“The Islamic Emirate will adopt the constitution of the former King Mohammad Zahir Shah’s time for a temporary period,” Abdul Hakim Sharaee said. But anything in the text found to conflict with Sharia law and the principles of the Islamic Emirate would be discarded, he added.

Nearly six decades ago, before the world’s superpowers intervened in the country, Afghanistan enjoyed a brief period of constitutional monarchy during the reign of King Shah.

The 1964 constitution, which gave women the right to vote for the first time and opened the doors for their increased participation in politics, would appear an awkward fit with the Taliban’s hardline views.

Kabul University bans women, say reports

Kabul University’s new chancellor, who was appointed by the Taliban, has apparently ruled that women won’t be allowed to attend classes or teach at the institution until an Islamic environment is firmly put in place, according to media reports in the US.

“As long as real Islamic environment is not provided for all, women will not be allowed to come to universities or work,” Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat, who was appointed to the job last week said in a tweet on Monday. “Islam first,” he added.