<span style="color: #222222;">A small group of Afghan women staged a defiant protest in Kabul on Thursday against a Taliban order banning them from universities.<br />''<br />''In the latest move to restrict human rights in Afghanistan, the Taliban's minister for higher education ordered all public and private universities to bar women from attending.<br />''<br />''A protester at the rally told the news agency that some of the girls had been arrested by women police officers. Two were released, but several remained in custody.<br />''<br />''Tuesday's late-night announcement triggered international outrage, with the United States, the United Nations, and several Muslim nations denouncing it.</span><br />