Afghan girl protests alone against Taliban university ban.

While staging a solo protest against the restriction on women attending universities over the weekend, an Afghan student, age 18, was subjected to taunts and insults from the Taliban.

Marwa told AFP, requesting anonymity, “For the first time in my life, I felt so proud, strong, and powerful because I was standing against them and demanding a right that God has given us.” Since the Taliban’s return, women-led protests have grown less common in Afghanistan, especially after the incarceration of key activists at the beginning of the year. Arrest, violence, and social shame are risks that participants take. Marwa was insistent, though.

Marwa put up a poster just yards from the entrance to the Kabul University campus, the largest and most prestigious university in the nation, as her sister recorded the silent protest on her phone from a moving vehicle. The Taliban this week forbade women from attending universities, marking their latest violation of women’s rights and igniting outcry around the world. A few ladies have attempted to demonstrate against the prohibition, but they were quickly driven away.

On Sunday, Marwa bravely carried a sign that read “Iqra,” the Arabic word for “read,” in front of Taliban security personnel stationed at the Kabul University gates.

They made incredibly hurtful comments to me, but I maintained my composure, she added.

“I wanted to demonstrate the strength of a single Afghan girl and how even one person can fight persecution,” she said. It will inspire my other sisters to rise and drive out the Taliban when they see that one girl has stood up against them, Marwa added.

When the Taliban retook control in August of last year, they promised a gentler version of the law, but they have instead put draconian limitations on women, essentially excluding them from public life. Authorities gave all humanitarian organizations until Saturday to stop sending women workers to work.

Girls’ secondary schools have been shut down for more than a year, and many women who lost their jobs in the government are being paid a small portion of their salaries to stay at home. In addition, women have been prohibited from using public restrooms, gyms, and parks.

According to the Taliban, women are not adhering to the stringent Islamic clothing code, which includes donning hijabs, which is why there are restrictions.

According to Marwa, who aspires to be a painter, the nation has transformed into a jail for women.

“I don’t want to go to jail. I want to fulfil my enormous aspirations, she declared. “I choose to object for that reason.”