Afghanistan’s Taliban-run higher education ministry on December 20 suspended access to universities by female students until further notice, drawing strong condemnation from the United States.

The highest level of education most Afghan girls will be able to attain is grade 6 — the final year of primary school.

"The United States condemns in the strongest terms the Taliban's indefensible decision to ban women from universities, to keep secondary schools closed to girls and to continue to impose other restrictions on the ability of women and girls in Afghanistan to exercise their human rights and their fundamental freedoms," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.