Women are stopped by guards at a university in Kabul

Hundreds of young women are being expelled from universities in Afghanistan, the day after the Taliban issued a ban on higher education for women.

Armed guards on Wednesday prevented the women from entering university campuses in the capital, Kabul, despite earlier promises not to jeopardize women’s right to higher education.

Many of the ported women, wearing headscarves, stood gathered in groups talking to each other.

– We are doomed to fail. We have lost everything, said one of the women, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals.

Male students also expressed their disappointment, stating that the ban on women in universities is further evidence of the illiterate Taliban’s lack of knowledge of both Islam and human rights.

Condemnations of the Taliban regime’s actions came from both the United Nations and the United States in the strongest possible terms.

The Taliban once again took power in Afghanistan last year, in connection with the departure of US and NATO forces after 20 years in the country.