Afghan Women Between Rock, Rapists

The women of Afghanistan will experience an increase in abuse during the U.S. military escalation, according to a new report.

 KABUL, Afghanistan — The women of Afghanistan will experience an increase in abuse during the U.S. military escalation, according to a new report.

However, even almost a decade without the Taliban in power, the local indigenous population still disrespects the human rights of women.

Human Rights Watch reported, for example, that over half of the females in Afghan prisons are being held for “moral crimes,” like running away from home.

And the women running away from home are more than likely teenage girls seeking reprive from marriage against their will.

Moreover, rape of women is still not seen by Afghan authorities as a serious crime; the anti-rape law was put only on the books this year.

In fact, President Hamid Karzai pardoned a group of rapists, one of whom was a local militia commander, according to the report.

Violence against women is so widespread that an unnamed woman serving in the Parilament told The Guardian/UK that the police tell her to quit making enemies, “to keep quiet.”

“But how can I stop talking about women’s rights and human rights?” she asked.

Therefore, more foreign troops deployed to the area “could deteriorate” the situation, said HRW’s Rachel Reid.

HRW has called for the prison releases of women who ran away from home.