Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are among several Islamic countries to condemn the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) decision to ban women from attending university.

Female university students were turned away on Wednesday after academic institutions were sent a letter by the Afghan higher education ministry on Tuesday evening enforcing the decision.

The move was widely condemned by governments around the world, including in the Middle East and Asia.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the ministry of higher education stated in a tweet on Thursday that Sheikh Mawlawi Nada Muhammad Nadeem, the acting minister, “will hold a press conference today or tomorrow, to clarify the recent decision of the Ministry of Higher Education regarding the suspension of girls’ universities until further notice.”

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday the ban was “neither Islamic nor humanistic. We reject such a ban.”

This came after Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry expressed “surprise and regret” on Wednesday, and called on Kabul to reverse the decision.

The United Arab Emirates’ deputy ambassador to the UN, Amiera al-Hefeiti, also spoke out about it and Qatar released a statement expressing “deep concern and disappointment”.

“These negative practices will have a significant impact on human rights, development, and the economy in Afghanistan,” Doha’s foreign ministry said.

“As a Muslim country in which women enjoy all their rights, especially education, the state of Qatar calls on the Afghan caretaker government to review its decision in line with the teachings of the Islamic religion concerning women’s rights.”

Abdel Aziz Hamad Aluwaisheg, assistant secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, tweeted on Thursday: “Banning the education of girls 16+ is a clear violation of human rights, but it can also doom the economic future of Afghanistan, relegating half of its people to a life of poverty and ignorance.”

Likewise, Indonesia is deeply concerned and disappointed with the decision of the Islamic Emirate to suspend access to university education for women in Afghanistan.

The Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hissein Brahim Taha, meanwhile expressed “grave concern and denunciation of this disconcerting decision”.

He said in a statement the decision will go a long way in seriously denting the credibility of the government in place, just as it will deny Afghan girls and women their fundamental rights to education, employment, and social justice.

The statement noted that the OIC “calls on Kabul authorities to reverse it for the sake of maintaining consistency between their promises and actual decisions”.