Afghanistan's women students are both dismayed and angered by the Taliban's announcement that they are banned from attending university, the latest assault on women's rights in the country. Wajiha Kazimi, a 19-year-old student who survived a suicide attack on her education centre in September, says the Taliban have "totally burnt the page on which we exist." Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the hardline Islamists have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women's lives, ignoring international outrage.