Afghanistan

Afghan women represented a third of the vote and a historic number of provincial candidates at the weekend's elections. Aid workers say that women are defiant in the progress of democracy and rights, and won't be deterred by violent insurgency.

We invite our users to read the complete article published April 7 2014 

On International Women's Day last month, Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani held a rally in Kabul attended by several thousand women. While they were all wearing headscarves, there was not a full-length burqa to be seen in the crowd. And did something highly unusual in Afghanistan: He let his wife, Rula, a Lebanese-American Christian, address the crowd.

We invite you to read the full article published April 3, 2014

The campaign for Saturday's presidential election in Afghanistan is featuring women in a more prominent role than ever before. One front-runner has a female running mate, and another has let his wife address campaign rallies—major departures from established practice in a conservative, Islamic country where women have long been kept out of politics.

Activists say the relative prominence of women in the election campaign underlines the progress Afghan women have made since the U.S. ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

Mariam Wardak is one of those young Afghans with her feet in two worlds: At 28, she has spent much of her adult life in Afghanistan, but she grew up in the United States after her family fled there. She vividly remembers the culture shock of visits back to her family’s village in rural Wardak Province a decade ago.

We invite you to read the full article published April 1, 2014