The closure of universities to women and girls is a chilling step backwards for Afghanistan. There are no two ways about it: women must be allowed to work and to move freely, and girls must be allowed to continue to go to school. Without their presence in schools and universities, the future of Afghanistan stands to crumble. Efforts to rebuild Afghanistan in the wake of economic collapse will be undermined completely; many educated Afghans have already left the country over the last eighteen months. Afghanistan is in urgent need of a future generation of doctors, teachers and civil servants.