Plight of Afghan women may worsen as war effort is stepped up, warns report

The already dire plight of women in Afghanistan risks deteriorating further as the US and its allies take steps to turn around the war against the Taliban, according to a report by Human Rights Watch today. Eight years after the Taliban were ousted from power, rapists are often protected from prosecution, women can still be arrested for running away from home, and girls have far less access to schools than boys, the report says. With the insurgency strengthening in the south and making inroads into the north, the few gains made for women's rights since the US-led invasion of 2001 could be further eroded if Hamid Karzai's government and the international community push for peace talks with factions of the fundamentalist movement. Among the examples of abuses against women collected by the organization was the case of a woman who was gang raped by a group that included a powerful local militia commander. Although she fought to have her rapists prosecuted, they were subsequently pardoned by Karzai. Later, her husband was assassinated.