The Guardian:

Relief set in the moment Hasina crossed the border into Iran. For two years, the Taliban barred the 24-year-old medical student from continuing her studies. Now, as part of a growing exodus of Afghan women who desperately want an education, Hasina is pursuing her degree in Tehran.

“I was terrified the Taliban would prevent me from leaving,” she says. Last year, they stopped 100 female Afghan students boarding a flight to take up places at university in the United Arab Emirates where they had won scholarships.

As a precaution, Hasina – whose full name has not been given to protect her identity – left Afghanistan with a tourist visa for Iran. She was accompanied by her father, they posed as a family going on a visit, but he returned home alone. Now, Hasina is enrolled at the Iran University of Medical Sciences in the capital, studying to become a surgeon.

It has been more than 1,000 days since the all-male Taliban government shut the door on girls’ education beyond the age of 12 after their August 2021 government takeover. Neighbouring Iran – which had previously denounced the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education – has opened it.

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