Afghan women partake in a video protesting against a reported plan to ban women from attending medical training institutes. The footage was shared by Afghan women's protest group: Purple Saturday. An Afghan health ministry source and managers from private medical institutes told AFP earlier this week that the public health ministry had issued a directive from the Taliban supreme leader to suspend women's attendance. The ban would be the latest restriction on women's education since the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and imposed what the United Nations has dubbed "gender apartheid".