Afghan Women in the News
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Articles referenced are for informational purposes only, and do not reflect the opinion or policies of UNIFEM and the United Nations. Content is protected under international copyright laws, and should be cited from the original source.
Working to improve women's health in Afghanistan
November 22, 2010 |
The Guardian 
Under the Taliban, maternal healthcare dropped to an all time low in Afghanistan. Because women were excluded from education, there were hardly any trained midwives left in the country. Over the last few years, NGOs have been working to cut maternal and child deaths in the country, which remain some of the highest in the world. The photographer Kate Holt records the work Care International has been doing to tackle the problem in Kabul
First women's cricket team for Afghanistan
November 11, 2010 |
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Afghan Candidate's Campaign Workers Abducted
August 26, 2010 |
New York Times
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Ten campaign workers for a female parliamentary candidate in western Afghanistan were abducted by gunmen Thursday and the Taliban claimed responsibility for two deadly attacks, one that killed eight Afghan police officers and another that killed two Spanish police trainers and a translator a day earlier...
Afghan schoolgirls sickened by unknown gas
August 25, 2010 |
Associated Press (AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Dozens of students and teachers at a girls' school in Afghanistan's capital Kabul were sickened Wednesday by an unknown gas that spread through classrooms, education officials said.
The incident was similar to earlier cases where scores of girls have been treated for dizziness, headaches and nausea following suspected poisoning attacks. Those have raised fears that the Taliban and other Islamic fundamentalists who oppose female education are using a new method to scare them away from classes...
Record number of women to stand in Afghan parliament polls
August 25, 2010 |
One India
Kabul Aug 25 (ANI): A record number of female candidates will stand in Afghanistan's parliament elections next month, regardless of the everyday prejudice and death threats from the Taliban.
Poll monitors said women candidates are finding it difficult to campaign outside a few areas, as objections from conservative hardliners is at a high level.
"With voting billed for 18 September, Kabul's streets have been plastered in posters and billboards, many of which show the faces of would-be female MPs in the capital, the number of whom has more than doubled since 2005. However, many of the posters do not stay up long, or get defaced with slashes of bright red ink," reports The Guardian...
Afghan women and the Taliban stoning
August 17, 2010 |
Salon
By Tracy Clark-Flory
A couple's killing stirs up outrage, as well as anxiety about the country's women being used as propaganda...
How settling with the Taliban puts women at risk
August 15, 2010 |
Washington Post
By Tom Malinowski
"If you had to choose between saving a girl's life or enabling her to go to school, which would you do first?" This was Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reply when I asked him last month if the rights of Afghan women might be sacrificed for a peace settlement with the Taliban.
While real peace talks may not begin for a long time, it was clear to me on a recent trip to Kabul that the political and intellectual groundwork is being laid for "reconciliation" with insurgents. Karzai seems tired of the war's carnage and uncertain of the international community's staying power...
If we betray Afghan women, we have lost
August 15, 2010 |
The Guardian
British politicians rarely talk about victory in Afghanistan. It is no longer even clear what victory would mean.
Kabul fell in November 2001, within weeks of the US-led invasion. If the sole purpose of occupation was to dismantle al-Qaida training camps, the war was won years ago. If, however, the reason for military intervention was to build a model democratic state and a beacon of good governance in central Asia, victory is a very distant prospect...
Rights activist fears for Afghanistan's women
August 12, 2010 |
Radio Australia
By Joanna McCarthy
A human rights activist is concerned that impatience by western nations to quit Afghanistan's war will leave the country's women more exposed to fundamentalist violence.
A United Nations report says women and children are increasingly bearing the brunt of the fighting, with civilian casualties up by nearly a third this year.
At the same time, government statistics show a rising number of Afghan women are attempting suicide...
Statistics show more Afghan women attempting suicide
August 11, 2010 |
ABC Australia
By Joanna McCarthy
Government statistics in Afghanistan have raised concerns that a growing number of Afghan women are attempting suicide.
The government says every year about 2,300 women or girls attempt to kill themselves, mainly due to mental illness, domestic violence and poverty.
Rachel Reid, Afghan analyst from Human Rights Watch, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program there are a range of issues facing women in Afghanistan...
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