>

Constantinople?  That was the 15th century.  Europe was starting the Rennaisance by then.  And thanks to the likes of Hulagu Khan the Mamlukes the Middle East was starting to decline.
Do you mean the Western Roman Empire instead?
The only possible defense he could have, is that the Taliban is so terrified of educated woman not taking their bullshit, that they have to prevent their education.  The Taliban are weak, pathetic, and petty. >

Funnily enough - that IS the actual reason.. >

It is a grave sin, to be born a woman in Afghanistan. >

Studying history I've come to the conclusion many islamic societies were more advanced back then than now. >

The Islamic world virtually saved the western world after Constantinople fell. They even educated the European nobles for centuries. The current crop of Sunni Islam with these views came from the Wahhabism and its backward and insular practices. I’m not clear what happened in Shia Islam though outside of the student revolution which was co-opted into the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. It is far removed from the cosmopolitan Islam of the Ottoman or the many Persian Empires. Places like Afghanistan and Iran have regressed from where they were even 60 years ago. This is an aberration if you look at Indonesia, Syria or Turkey.