Afghanistan

A controversial bill that Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised to review before implementing quietly became law last month, allowing police to enforce language that stipulates a wife's sexual duties and restricts a woman's ability to leave her own home.Share Afghanistan's President Karzai approves traditional, male-dominated Islamic law.Karzai had promised to send the bill to parliament before it was published, but this week women's rights advocates learned it had already become an enforceable law despite heavy international and national criticism.

"Violence against women exists in every continent, every country and every culture, and Afghanistan makes no exception, but the problem here in Afghanistan is that most of the cases remain unreported due to the severe restrictions women face in seeking justice," he told Al Jazeera."Female victims are often denied equal access to justice because traditionally they rarely register cases themselves."
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The Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan has financially supported an election training for Afghani women in the Logar province, the PRT spokesman told CTK yesterday.Puli Alam, Afghanistan, Aug 13 (CTK) - The Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan has financially supported an election training for Afghani women in the Logar province, the PRT spokesman told CTK yesterday.

To most Afghans, the face of Farida Tarana, 27, evokes her tumultuous 2006 ascent to the No. 8 position on the widely watched local version of American Idol. She was the first female competitor from the conservative western province of Herat, and while she charmed audiences nationwide with her joyful renditions of classic Afghan songs, she was persecuted by conservatives for daring to break cultural taboos against women singing in public.
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"Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, and the establishment of the [Hamid] Karzai government, Afghan women continue to be among the worst off in the world. Their situation is dismal in every area, including in health, education, employment, freedom from violence, equality before the law, and political participation," said the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. In March, the poor condition of women’s rights in Afghanistan was brought into the news again by the parliament’s passing of the Shia Personal Status law - which Karzai went on to sign.

President Karzai has given his election cronies the authority to find new ways of filling women’s seats in forthcoming parliamentary ballots, in a move that critics fear will erode constitutional safeguards designed to guarantee female MPs. However, the decree, issued last week, allows the Commission to find new ways of filling empty posts. “If the vacancies can be filled by male candidates then it’s open to intimidation,” said a women’s rights activist in Kabul. “It’s in the men’s interests to discourage women from standing.” Women in public office already risk death threats.

The shooting of a female Afghan politician on Monday demonstrates the fragility of the modest gains made by Afghan women after the fall of the Taleban, Amnesty International said on Thursday. Nida Khyani, a female Provincial Council member, was left in critical condition after being attacked in a drive-by shooting in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan. "Nida Khyani is yet another casualty of the systematic violent targeting of women in public life in Afghanistan," said Sam Zarifi, Director of Amnesty International's Asia Pacific programme.

As Afghanistan looks to a future without U.S. troops, the Kabul government says reconciling with the Taliban is critical to making peace after nearly 10 years of war. Some human rights activists are concerned that reconciliation could lead to a return of the repressive conditions they suffered during Taliban rule. But Afghan Labor and Social Affairs Minister Amina Afzali says the process will be at no cost to the progress already made by women in her country.

A prominent female lawmaker has repeated her intention to run for Afghanistan's presidency when current President Hamid Karzai's term runs out in two years' time, suggesting she sees signs that gender bias is easing among some Afghans.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi said she believes certain intellectual groups in deeply religously conservative Afghanistan are increasingly ready to accept a woman as president.