In another deadly attack against civilians, two Afghans working for a German aid agency were killed in southeastern Afghanistan. According to the Associated Press, a field officer and a driver working for the aid group Malester were killed in their car from gunshots.
These murders were the latest in a string of deadly attacks on relief workers, government employees, and private contractors in a Taliban-led movement to derail the democratic elections scheduled for October and to oust the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. Aid workers, both foreign and Afghan, have been the targets of Taliban-led attacks that have left more than 30 aid workers dead.
Meanwhile, according to IRIN News, 90 percent of eligible voters in Afghanistan have been registered, of which 41 percent are women. However, voter registration is very low in several provinces in the south and southeastern parts of the country. Due to the deteriorating security situation, as little as 9 percent of people have been registered in these areas. Another concern is that there is unbalanced female registration, reports IRIN News, with only 22 percent of women registered in the south compared with the 41 percent as the national average.
TAKE ACTION Urge Bush to send more Peacekeeping Troops to Afghanistan
DONATE to the Feminist Majority Foundation and support our work for women’s rights and health globally