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Subject: [MLL] Post-Taliban Afghan Women Face Same Restrictions
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Post-Taliban Afghan Women
Face Same Restrictions
By Sayed Salahuddin
3-6-3
KABUL (Reuters) - Women in many parts of Afghanistan continue to face
discrimination and intimidation more than a year after the fall of the
Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, according to a U.N. report issued on
Thursday.
The country's emergence from 24 years of conflict and the Taliban's ouster in
late 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition had led to some significant progress for
women.
But many "Taliban-like" restrictions on women remained in parts of the
country and a lot more still needed to be done to ensure their full and equal
participation in society, the United Nations said in the report, issued ahead
of International Women's Day on March 8.
In rural areas, especially in the more conservative tribal belt where
powerful warlords hold sway, the situation of women had not changed to any
great extent since the removal of the Taliban, it said.
"Despite positive developments regarding women's rights, intimidation and
violence by regional and local commanders against women continue unabated,"
the U.N. said.
"Women are reported to restrict their participation in public life to avoid
being targets of violence by armed factions and elements seeking to enforce
the repressive edicts of the previous regime."
Entitled "The Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan," the report will
be presented at a U.N. session in New York discussing the status of women
worldwide lasting until March 14th, said the U.N. spokesman in Afghanistan
Manoel de Almeida e Silva.
Under the Taliban, women were banned from all forms of education and most
outdoor work.
The fundamentalist regime, which was seeking to build the world's purest
Islamic state, also forced women to wear the burqa, a loose garment which
covered the figure from head to toe with veiled eye holes, at all times
outdoors.
Women had moved from this complete denial of rights to participation in
several key state institutions, but many restrictions remained, the report
said.
"The fact that women in many parts of the country continue to face gross
violations of their rights, is a matter of concern," it said.
"Women are primary victims of insecurity...Taliban-like restrictions continue
to be applied to women in some parts of the country by local leaders."
The report urged the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai to work
harder to bring those responsible for violence against women to justice.
Reformers in Karzai's government have been struggling to introduce greater
democracy and more liberal concepts since replacing the Taliban.
Even though there is no longer any formal requirement, many women still feel
obliged to wear burqas, even in comparatively liberal Kabul.
Nearly a dozen girls' schools have been burned down or bombed in the past
year in various parts of the country.
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