Afghanistan Women

Displaced Afghan females face significant constraints to accessing education, health and employment opportunities, according to a new report by NRC. 7 out of 10 say they have never attended school.

The mentally ill woman, her face covered in blood, rose to her feet and looked out across the mob. She pleaded. But these men meant to kill her. A kick sent her tumbling backward. In the courtyard of one of Kabul’s most famous shrines, men hurled stones at her and struck her with wooden planks.

The Afghan state, Afghan civil society and the international community must adapt key Afghan social, religious, economic and cultural-normative structures and institutions in ways that are favorable to women’s enduring empowerment and development.

Afghan women have come a long way since the dark days of the Taliban regime. Yet a key obstacle to this progress continues to be high levels of violence against women. The legal system has failed to protect women when it comes to some of the most common crimes against them.

Women’s rights have been high up on the agenda of the international community since the start of its intervention more than 13 years ago. How successful has it been? Where do Afghan women stand in 2014 – and where will they be in just a few years time?

An audit of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the United States on programs designed to benefit Afghan women found the success of the efforts cannot be comprehensively assessed because the U.S. agencies involved could not track their spending

Nine years before an Afghan girl named Soheila was born, her half brother Aminullah eloped with a woman who had been betrothed to his cousin, an event that led to years of violent feuding between two sides of their family in Nuristan.

Women’s rights have been held up as one of the most tangible gains of the international intervention in Afghanistan. Yet, despite 13 years of promises from the international community that women’s rights are a high priority, these gains remain fragile and are at an increasing risk of erosion.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, spoke to members of the media at a Kabul press conference, detailing her assessment of the situation of Afghan women following a weeklong investigative trip to the country.

New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani signaled a new day for women in Afghanistan during his inauguration speech with a simple but emotional thank you to his wife for her support and a promise that she will have influence in his presidency.