A woman in a burqa leaves a university in Kandahar province. She won't be allowed to return. In a government statement Tuesday, the hardline Islamist Taliban instructed all universities in Afghanistan, private and public, to ban women from attending. As of now, all female students are barred from universities.

Taliban control the entrance to a university in Kabul the day after the university ban was imposed. Female students are told they cannot go in. The ban is set to remain in place indefinitely. There have, however, already been some signs of protest at the universities: Male students walked out of an exam, and some male teachers went on strike.

Some restrictions had already been put in place before now. After the Taliban took power in August 2021, universities had to separate entrances and classrooms by gender. Women could only be taught by other women or by old men. This picture shows how screens separated an area for female students at Kandahar University.

These female students at Benawa University in Kandahar were still able to graduate in March with degrees in engineering and computer science. The renewed restriction of women's rights in Afghanistan has come in for heavy international criticism. Human Rights Watch called the university ban a "shameful decision," while the UN said it violated women's human rights.

Thousands of girls and women took university entrance exams as recently as October —as here, at Kabul University. Many wanted to study medicine or become teachers. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the university ban "not only violates the equal rights of women and girls, but will have a devastating impact on the country's future."

The ban on university attendance is yet another restriction on educational opportunities for women and girls. For over a year now, teenage girls have only been able to attend secondary school up to seventh grade in most parts of the country. These girls walking to school in eastern Afghanistan are lucky: Some of the provinces away from the Taliban's central powerbases are ignoring the ban.

Girls and women are now excluded from most aspects of Afghan public life. They haven't been allowed to visit gyms or parks in Kabul for months. Even this amusement park in the capital is off-limits to female visitors. The Taliban justify the ban by saying regulations on the separation of the sexes were not being observed, and women were not wearing the headscarf as required by the Taliban.

Women gather saffron flowers in Herat province. This is work they are allowed to do, unlike most other professions. Since coming to power, the Taliban have enacted a great many regulations that hugely restrict the lives of women and girls. For example, they are forbidden from traveling without a male companion and must wear the hijab or burqa outside their home at all times.

Many Afghan women refuse to accept the abolition of their rights. These women were demonstrating in Kabul in November. A placard, in English, reads "Horrific Condition of Afghan Women Is A Blot of Shame to the World Conscience." Anyone who dares to protest requires a great deal of courage. Demonstrators risk beatings and imprisonment, and women's rights activists are persecuted in Afghanistan.

Under the guidance of specialist staff, trainee midwives in a hospital in the provincial capital of Bamiyan learn how to support pregnant women during childbirth and how to care for mothers and children. The program was launched by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in cooperation with the local aid organization Watan Social and Technical Services Association.

Since coming back to power in 2021, the Taliban have blocked women's access to education, universities and the labor market. The only exception has been the health sector. The 40 young women being trained in the Bamiyan hospital as part of the pilot project will later care for pregnant women in their villages.

The participants follow the lessons with concentration and motivation: "I want to learn and help the people in my village," a 23-year-old midwifery student said. The help is needed: In Afghanistan, almost 6% of all newborns die before they reach the age of five.

Part of the daily routine is to measure the blood pressure of pregnant women. Some of the prospective midwives are already mothers themselves and know the problems that can occur during pregnancy: "At first, I didn't want to become a nurse or a midwife," one project participant said before adding that experiences during her own pregnancy changed her view.

Everything has to be just so: A 20-year-old student midwife adjusts her head and nose covering in front of the mirror shortly before starting her shift. Her commitment to her midwifery training is enormous, as it takes her around two hours on foot to reach the hospital.

After their training, the midwives will assist women in remote villages. People there are often cut off from medical care. According to the World Health Organization, Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world: Around 3% of all women there die during or as a result of pregnancy.

Because of this lack of medical care, 35-year-old Aziza Rahimi lost her son. "I was bleeding for two hours and my husband couldn't find an ambulance," she said. Her son died shortly after birth, which she endured by herself at home. "I nursed my child in my belly for nine months and then lost him, it's extremely painful."

Many of the women waiting for treatment at the hospital in Bamiyan have no access to information about pregnancy, childbirth or family planning. The birth rate in Afghanistan remains above the regional average; statistically, a woman there gives birth to 4.64 children. By comparison, the rate in neighboring Iran is 1.69.