December 2, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 16, 1422

KABUL, Dec 1: Kabul University flung open its doors to women for the first time in five years on Saturday, doing away with the ban on female students imposed by the Taliban when they swept to power in 1996.

Amid quiet joy but also nervousness, dozens of women, most wearing the burqa, flocked to the university campus in the west of Kabul to register for classes.

“I think this is not Afghanistan. It is like we are dreaming after the last five years,” exclaimed 26-year-old Zohra Rahimi, who arrived early morning and was waiting impatiently in the sunshine on the steps of the medical faculty.

“I spent every day cooking, cleaning and doing housework, I was bored and depressed, it was five lost years of my life,” she added, speaking with her face completely obscured by the burqa.

Zohra’s classmate, 25-year-old Zahkia Yousufi, who like her had to abandon her medical studies after just four and a half months in September 1996, said she had not slept all night because of her excitement.

Five years ago, she remembered her despair when she was told to stop going to classes.

“It will be a black day in my life forever, I will never forget it. When the Taliban arrived in Kabul, they told us to leave the university and put on a burqa.

“Then when I was at home, I used to look at my textbooks on the shelves and it made me cry,” said Zahkia.

Earning her place in history, Farida Avzali, 21, was the first woman to arrive for enrolment.

“I don’t know about the future, we are not certain what it will bring. But today is an important day for Afghanistan that women can at last return to the university. I feel so happy that the Afghan people allowed this,” she said.—AFP