The radical Taliban movement that has seized power in Afghanistan has banned female employees, including female professors, from attending Afghan universities, sources cited by Aamaj News reported.

According to the agency, the Taliban has ordered that female professors and administrators at all universities in the country should not appear at their workplaces since Saturday.

On Tuesday, according to Ariana News television, the Taliban's Ministry of Higher Education sent a letter to Afghan universities notifying them that classes for girls should be "immediately suspended until further notice."

On Thursday, the minister of higher education in the Taliban-formed interim cabinet, Nada Mohammed Nadeem, said the decision was due to four reasons - the presence of girls in university dormitories and their coming from provinces to study without being accompanied by men, students' failure to observe hijab rules, male and female students teaching together in universities, and girls' teaching in some faculties, which "contradict Islamic law and infringe on the pride of Afghans."