by Emmanuel DUPARCQ KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Universities in Kabul were almost empty on the first day of the Afghan school year, as professors and students wrestled with the Taliban’s restrictive new rules for the classroom. The Taliban have promised a softer rule than during their first stint in power from 1996-2001, when women’s freedoms in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed and they were banned from higher education. This time, the hardline Islamist group have said […]