WOMEN MAY STILL STUDY IN NO-MEN CLASSES: TALIBAN

Women in Afghanistan can continue to study in universities, including at post-graduate levels, but classrooms will be gendersegregated and Islamic dress is compulsory, the higher education minister in the new Taliban government said on Sunday. The minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, laid out the new policies at a news conference, several days after Afghanistan’s new rulers formed an allmale government. The world has been watching closely to see to what extent the Taliban might act differently from their first time in power, in the late 1990s. During that era, girls and women were denied an education, and were excluded from public life. The Taliban have suggested they have changed, including in their attitudes toward women. However, they have used violence in recent days against women protesters demanding equal rights.