Despite initially promising a more moderate rule when they seized back power in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban have rapidly slid back towards harsh and regressive interpretations of Islamic law amid infighting and factionalism.

Taliban edicts have banned girls from middle school and high school, restricted women from most employment and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms.

On Tuesday, a letter shared by the spokesman for the higher education ministry, Ziaullah Hashmi, instructed private and public universities to impose a ban on women as soon as possible and to inform the ministry once the ban is in place.