Category: Afghanistan

The UN announced a 16 day campaign to eliminate violence against women in Afghanistan in a press conference today. During the campaign, which ends on Human Rights Day, the UN is “supporting a diverse range of activities across Afghanistan to enhance awareness and, by extension, to mobilize or increase attention” to the problem of violence […]

Contractors hired to guard the United States Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan have been accused of sex trafficking. One guard was heard “boasting” about the profit he could turn if he was able to “purchase a girl for $20,000.” The same guard claimed to join the force because he “knew someone who owned prostitutes there,” according […]

Reports indicate that many women were unable to vote in some parts of Afghanistan and that women’s voting cards were used to stuff ballot boxes in the country’s presidential election earlier this month. In some areas that are not controlled by the Taliban, however, women were nearly 60 percent of voters, according to the Christian […]

The participation of many Afghan women in Thursday’s elections is threatened by strict polling regulations and fraud. A severe shortage of female workers to staff women-only polling places will limit the ability of millions of women cast their ballots, reports the Independent UK. The country’s Independent Election Commission says it needs 13,000 additional women to […]

The controversial Shia family law, with some revisions, that restricts the rights of Shia women in Afghanistan was published in the country’s official Gazette on July 27th, making the law’s provisions official. The law applies only to Afghanistan’s 10-20 percent Shia minority. President Hamid Karzai published the law as he courts fundamentalist Shia mullahs in […]

Congresswomen and global health administrators held a briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday to highlight the issue of maternal health in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world according to UNICEF. Women’s Policy Inc. sponsored the event in collaboration with the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. Melanne Verveer, the first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for […]

Afghanistan’s Justice Ministry yesterday released a revision of the controversial Shia law that legalized rape within marriage, among other provisions. The Associated Press reports that the new version omits original provisions that allowed men to demand sex from their wives and that required women to ask their husbands’ permission to leave their home. The law […]

Kai Eide, the United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan, urged Afghan leaders to fight violence against women at a meeting in Kabul where he announced a new UN report on the subject. The report, entitled “Silence is Violence” (see PDF), was written by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights and the UN’s Assistance Mission […]

A young Afghan couple who tried to elope were publicly executed by a firing squad Monday by the Taliban in Nimroz, a southwestern province. Reports indicate that the couple, 19-year-old Gul Pecha and 21-year-old Abdul Aziz, were convicted of “immoral acts.” Pecha’s parents reportedly had forced her to become engaged to a man she disliked […]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced this weekend that the Afghan government, specifically the minister of justice, will review a new Shia family law he signed sometime last month that would severely restrict women’s rights in Afghanistan. Karzai, according to news sources, signed the bill to court the Hazara vote in the upcoming presidential election. In […]

A team of all-female marines who are part of the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force in Afghanistan has conducted their first mission. The team mirrors similar operations in Iraq and was formed because it is culturally taboo for male marines to interact with Afghan women. The team’s leader, 2nd Lieutenant Johanna Shaffer, said […]

There will be a full investigation into the case of two convicted rapists who were given a pardon by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in May. The victim, Sara, discovered that the men had been released from prison when she they saw them walking in their village and she has since been forced into hiding with […]

Taliban gunmen shot three International Rescue Committee (IRC) workers and their local driver near Kabul on Wednesday. The only survivor, an Afghan man who was critically wounded in the attack, said that five men ambushed the vehicle and opened fire. AFP reports that the Taliban claims the aid workers were members of the military. Shirley […]

Women and young girls are being pushed to commercial sex work due to high food prices and widespread unemployment in Afghanistan. High fertility rates, poor health services, and a high maternal mortality rate compound these issues. Sex work is considered to be a serious crime in Afghanistan, where offenders can face the death penalty or […]

At least ten schools in Afghanistan have been attacked since school began on March 23. These attacks are ten more in a long line of attacks; the Afghan Ministry of Education told IRIN, a United Nations (UN) humanitarian news service, that there were 2,450 terrorist attacks on schools from March 2006 to February of 2008. […]

The Afghan Study Group (ASG), composed of a bipartisan group of leading scholars and experts on Afghanistan, released a report yesterday stating that “the mission to stabilize Afghanistan is faltering”. The report recommended the “decoupling” of Iraq and Afghanistan in both legislative and management processes, appointing a U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan, and creating a […]