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Mutilated Afghan girl Aisha gets new nose
10/13/2010
BBC News

The Afghan girl featured on a controversial Time magazine cover in the US has been given a new prosthetic nose. Aisha told Time her nose and ears had been cut off - with the approval of a Taliban commander - by her abusive husband as punishment for running away. The front cover generated debate over the headline "What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan" and over the use of the photo itself. Her surgery was done in California.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11530849

Canadian-raised Mozhdah Jamalzadah becomes megastar in Afghanistan
6/26/2010
Darah Hansen, Canwest News Service

For millions of Afghans Vancouver-raised Mozhdah Jamalzadah is a megastar on a level somewhere between reigning American daytime queen Oprah and Disney pop princess Hannah Montana.


6/29/2009

Introducing your Gateway to the Afghan Media, stay informed and learn what Afghanistan has to say.
http://www.afghanwire.com/

4/16/2009
The Times

It takes courage for anyone nowadays to defy the religious zealots whose baleful influence is rapidly extinguishing personal freedoms and human rights in Afghanistan. But it takes particular courage for a woman to speak out against the prevailing prejudice and misogyny that are, once again, depriving women of their rights, their dignity and their fundamental freedoms even in the capital city.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6101357.ece

Three Cheers for Afghan Women
4/15/2009
NICHOLAS KRISTOF

I’m awed by the courage of those 300 Afghan women who endured stones, jeers and threats to march through Kabul today demanding a measure of equal rights. As my colleague Dexter Filkins reports, the women were chased and insulted as “whores” by a mob of men and women three times as large. The women were protesting a new law, applying only to Shiites, that obliges women to sleep with their husbands on demand and bars them from leaving the home without their husbands’ permission.


"If not amended, the law is an offence to Hazaras"
4/13/2009
Hazaristan Times

Mohsini Backs “Rape Law”, Muhaqiq terms Offence to Hazaras, if not amended. Sheikh Mohsini Kandhari condemned international community for "meddling" in "internal affaris" of Afghanistan.

Sheikh Mohsini Kandhari condemned international community for "meddling" in "internal affaris" of Afghanistan.


Afghan Clerics Defend the Law
4/13/2009
RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT

KABUL (AP) — A key backer of an Afghan law that critics say legalizes marital rape and rolls back women's rights rejected an international outcry as foreign meddling on Saturday and insisted the legislation offers women many protections.


4/13/2009
Anand Gopal

Just as the world's eyes are turning towards Afghanistan once again, a few conservative Afghan lawmakers are trying to pass a law that would, amongst other things, legalize marital rape, prohibit women from leaving the home without permission, deny them the right of inheritance, force a woman to "preen for her husband as and when he desires," and set the minimum female marital age to sixteen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anand-gopal/what-you-should-know-abou_b_186225.html

4/9/2009
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

BOSTON — Maybe it was the sex that caught our attention. Sex has a way of doing that. The lead of the story, after all, was that any Shiite woman in Afghanistan would be required by law “to fulfill the sexual desires of her husband.”

Or maybe it wasn’t the sex. Maybe it was the report that under this religious law, Shiite women could leave their homes alone only for “legitimate purposes.”
http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x1098993197/Ellen-Goodman-Taliban-the-Sequel-a-horrible-reality-in-Afghanistan

Afghan Ministers, MPs and Civil Society Protest the Law
4/8/2009

KABUL (AFP) – Five cabinet ministers joined nearly 200 Afghan officials and intellectuals to sign a petition released Wednesday to protest that a law signed by President Hamid Karzai oppresses women.


4/5/2009

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says he has ordered a review of a new law that critics say makes it legal for men to rape their wives, responding to criticism from around the world that included sharp comments from US President Barack Obama.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/afghan-marital-law-under-review-20090405-9sou.html

4/5/2009
JASON STRAZIUSO

The law, signed by President Hamid Karzai last month, is intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan's Shi'ite community, which makes up 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the country's 30 million people. Under one article legislating the frequency of sexual relations between Shi'ite husbands and wives, husbands have the right to sex every fourth night unless the wife is ill.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/afghan-marital-law-under-review-20090405-9sou.html

4/3/2009
The Times

President Karzai of Afghanistan provoked international outrage yesterday with draconian Taleban-era restrictions on women and laws that explicitly sanction marital rape.

A leaked copy of the laws obtained by The Times details new strictures for Afghanistan’s Shia minority. Women are banned from leaving the home without permission. A wife has the absolute duty to provide sexual services to her husband, and child marriage is legalised.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6025362.ece

4/2/2009
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives, human rights groups and several Afghan lawmakers said Thursday, accusing President Hamid Karzai of signing the legislation recently to bolster his re-election prospects. Those critics fear the legislation undermines hard-won rights for women enacted after the fall of the Taliban.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/asia/03briefs-afghanlaw.html?_r=1

4/2/2009
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The United Nations Development Fund for Women said Thursday that the law “legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband.” Robert Wood, a State Department spokesman, said Thursday that the United States was “very concerned” about the law. “We urge President Karzai to review the law’s legal status to correct provisions of the law that limit or restrict women’s rights,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/world/asia/03briefs-afghanlaw.html

4/2/2009
Golnaz Esfandiari

A new law that applies only to Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan threatens to reintroduce some Taliban-era restrictions and reverse progress on women's rights in a country still struggling to recover from years of oppressive rule.
http://www.rferl.org/content/New_Law_Seen_As_Setback_For_Afghan_Womens_Rights/1601618.html

4/1/2009
The Guardian

Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, came under intense western pressure yesterday to scrap a new law that the UN said legalised rape within marriage and severely limited the rights of women.

At a conference on Afghanistan in The Hague, Scandinavian foreign ministers publicly challenged the Afghan leader to respond to a report on the new law in yesterday's Guardian, and the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was reported to have confronted Karzai on the issue in a private meeting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/01/afghanistan-womens-rights-hamid-karzai

3/31/2009
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

In a massive blow for women's rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghan-leader-accused-of-bid-to-legalise-rape-1658049.html

6/27/2008

KABUL—Through the doors of Afghanistan's first and only counseling center, families come to sort through the emotions that accompany decades of war and hardship. Along with the loss and grieving, of course, there are concerns that life in Kabul isn't getting any better—and may be getting worse.

Unemployment is rampant, and food prices are on the rise. Watermelon, a beloved summertime snack, has become too pricey for many Afghans. Families struggle to be able to buy a 40-pound bag of wheat for $40. That cost is equivalent to two thirds of an average monthly salary—for someone lucky enough, that is, to have a job.
http://www.afghangendercafe.org/assets/WAW.doc

Paying off a Debt with a Daughter
6/21/2008
BBC News

The ban on poppy farming in Afghanistan may hamper the heroin trade but it also leaves farmers in poverty.

Kate Clark meets one who has had to negotiate the betrothal of his six-year-old daughter to pay a debt.


Sex Trade Thrives in Afghanistan
6/15/2008
ALISA TANG Associated Press

Afghanistan is one of the world's most conservative countries, yet its sex trade appears to be thriving. Sex is sold most obviously at brothels full of women from China who serve both Afghans and foreigners. Far more controversial are Afghan prostitutes, who stay underground in a society that pretends they don't exist.


Opium Brides
3/31/2008
rediff.com - News

As Afghanistan battles to check growing poppy production, there thrives a disturbing trend behind the scene, where daughters of poppy producers pay the price for the unpaid loans owed to the drug traffickers.

Termed as 'opium brides', the daughters of poor poppy farmers are often given to drug traffickers if their fathers are unable to pay the loan taken for growing the illicit crop, because of the official action.


11/7/2007

VANCOUVER, Canada, Nov 7, 2007 (IPS) - Malalai Joya was four years old when her family fled Afghanistan in 1982 to the refugee camps of Iran and later Pakistan.

Her father was a medical student who lost a foot during the Soviet invasion. Joya returned to Afghanistan in 1998 during the Taliban's reign. During that time she founded an orphanage and health clinic, and became a vocal opponent of the Taliban.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39954

11/5/2007
Stephen Leahy

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39926

11/5/2007
Stephen Leahy

TORONTO, Canada, Nov 5, 2007 (IPS) - "I am staying in Afghanistan to prove that women are brave and strong," says Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad.

Nekzad has been threatened with death even as she attended the funeral of Zakia Zaki, a female radio broadcaster murdered by gunmen as she slept with her eight-month-old son at her home near Kabul in June.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39926

10/24/2007
Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Kabul

Two by two the women walked down the impromptu catwalk in the hotel gardens, showing off their well ironed, shiny-buttoned uniforms.

The fashion show featured policewomen from across the Muslim world, in Kabul to give advice and a morale boost to the Afghan women outnumbered by the men in their force by 250 to one.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7059564.stm

10/21/2007

This 5-day conference for Islamic police women will be held in Kabul, Afghanistan and be the first of its kind in the world. The conference will allow Muslim policewomen from around the world to exchange ideas and experiences with their Afghan sisters and counterparts, and to enhance the policing knowledge of all participants.
http://www.iipwc.af

Afghan Women's Network Statement
10/7/2007
Published in NGO Press Release

Published in NGO Press Release on Tuesday the 02. of October 07 Afghan Women are concerned about deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and loss of innocent citizens in suicide bombing

We women express our deepest sorrow and concern over the continuation of deteriorating security situation and offer our prayer to the soul of the women, children and men martyrs who have lost their life in scared month of Ramadan in face of ignorance and we the women of Afghanistan condemn the terrorists acts which is killing civilians and creating atmosphere of fear in our country.


Women's DDA in Panjshir Province
10/1/2007

The second phase of the National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP II) aims to contribute to the sustainable reduction of poverty and improvement of livelihoods in rural Afghanistan by empowering communities to articulate and address needs and priorities in an integrated, people-focused, inclusive and participatory manner. Part of this strategy is the establishment of District Development Assemblies (DDAs), made up of local district members and providing a participatory and consultative mechanism for local development mobilisation and decision making, in the form of District Development Plans (DDPs). Approximately 36% of Afghanistan is represented by DDAs, and the establishment and support of such has been fundamental to NABDP's community empowerment process.


9/29/2007
Glyn Strong

Death threats and assassination attempts have forced Malalai Joya underground, but she is unwavering in her mission to bring true democracy to her country. Glyn Strong meets Afghanistan's most outspoken politician. Photographs by Tom Stoddart

For about £9, a woman can disappear in Kabul. That's how much it costs to buy a burqa, and behind it she can become invisible. It is no small irony that the garment forced upon Afghanistan's women during the repressive reign of the Taliban has become the key to freedom for the controversial human rights activist Malalai Joya.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/29/sm_joya.xml&page=1

Afghanistan Girls' Education Initiative Gets a Boost
9/13/2007
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)



9/13/2007

Afghanistan has one the highest proportion of school-age (7-12) children in the world: about 1 in 5 Afghans is a school-age child. Despite success in sending children to school, trends in gender disparity in education remains worrisome. The literacy rate for young women (aged 15-24) is 18 per cent, compared to 50 per cent for boys and the primary school completion rate for boys is 32 per cent, versus 13 per cent for girls. In terms of cohort tracking, only 30 percent of girls (age 12 years) reach grade 5, compared to 56 per cent for boys.
http://www.ungei.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_68.html

The US-Afghan Women's Council (USAWC) Ninth Semi-Annual Meeting Convened
7/18/2007

The US-Afghan Women’s Council (USAWC) gathered at the Foreign Ministry in Kabul on July 18, 2007 for its ninth semi-annual meeting. His Excellency Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Husan Bano Ghazanfar, the Minister of Women's Affairs; and Dr. Paula Dobriansky, the United State’s Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs co-chaired the meeting.


6/7/2007

The US House of Representatives voted 406 to 10 yesterday to pass an omnibus bill that will provide security and economic assistance to Afghanistan and will limit funds given to warlords in high-level offices. The bill includes the major provisions of the Afghan Women's Empowerment Act, including the authorization for three years of $5 million for the Afghan Ministry for Women's Affairs, $10 million for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and $30 million for Afghan-led non-governmental organizations that are providing assistance to Afghan women and girls.
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=10351

IWPR Women for Afghan Women News and Resources Website
6/1/2007



Herat Women Thirst for Education
1/1/2007
Sadeq Behnam and Sudabah Afzali

Fatima lives in Dadshan village, in a district of Herat Province that is remote from the splendours of the capital city. Enrolling in the literacy course was not easy: in addition to coping with the demands of her large family, she had to convince her husband, a farmer for whom literacy, especially for women, seemed a luxury.


Nancy Hatch Dupree's "An Historical Guide to Afghanistan" available on line.
12/1/2004
Janice Eisenhauer

Nancy Hatch Dupree. An Historical Guide To Afghanistan Posted by: "Janice Eisenhauer" eisenhauer@praxis.ca w4waca
Historical Guide to Afghanistan from 1980s.
http://www.zharov.com/dupree/


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