The Taliban government is purging books written by women from Afghanistan’s male-only university system and outlawing gender studies courses, the latest blows in a campaign against women’s rights since the group returned to power four years ago. Over 600 books, many of them written by women, were included in a 50-page list of banned works. The directive was announced in a letter to universities by the Taliban’s deputy higher education minister, dated to late August, and published by the Independent Persian on Thursday. The letter said the titles were in conflict with principles of Sharia, or Islamic law. It affects society, because those books were part of the curriculums of those universities.”