An Afghan widow with photo of her martyred husband in Kabul.

Celebration of the conquest by raping Women and girls all over Afghanistan live in constant fear of being raped by armed guards. For years, armed guards have been allowed to torture them in this way without fear of reprimand from their leaders. In fact, rape is apparently condoned by most leaders as a means of terrorizing conquered populations and of rewarding soldiers. .... Some women have attempted suicide to avoid being raped... Fear of rape and other abuses has led many families to leave Kabul. .... Torture of civilians in their homes has become endemic. Women and girls are treated as the spoils of war, being raped by armed guards or sold into prostitution. Unarmed civilians suspected of belonging to a rival ethnic group are routinely beaten and otherwise ill-treated. Amnesty International, November 1995

She has lost everything in the war but fanatic Taliban by banning women from work, force her to prostitution.

Suicide to avoid rape The Amnesty International report on women in Afghanistan says: "Armed group have massacred defenseless women in their homes, or have brutally beaten and raped them. Scores of young women have been abducted and then raped, taken as wives by commanders or sold into prostitution. Some have committed suicide to avoid such a fate. Scores of women have reportedly disappeared and several have been ston-ed to death. Many women are traumatised by the horrific abuses, they have suffered or witnessed." The conquerors often celebrate by killing and raping women and looting property.   The Frontier Post, August 4, 1995

Women wailing with grief as they are turned away from a funeral in Kabul in late 1994.  

Commanders have ten "wives"! Women and girls were not safe. Girls were abducted by commanders and forced into marriage, that is raped. Commanders were reported to have as many as ten "wives". If the girls or their families objected or resisted they were often killed. Many families sent their girls and women away, often to Pakistan.    Female Afghan community health workers employed by Emergency Relief Unit, an NGO in Jalalabad, have been harassed by shura members for working in the displaced persons camps. One female health worker who was been driven to a camp was stopped by local militia and her driver was arrested for suspicion of immoral activities (that is driving a car with a woman at it who is not related to him). The woman was also threatened.   The News, November 11, 1995

A woman with her child recounts how her husband was killed in Afshar, west Kabul  

The gift of the "Islamic revolution": Body-selling Beside professional prostitutes, some Afghan women were forced by circumstances to sell their bodies to make both ends meet. Their power-hungry leaders and commanders are responsible for pushing them into the flesh trade because continued fighting in Kabul and elsewhere in the war-ravaged country has killed their breadwinners and destroyed their homes. Women who lived in Purdah had to come out to beg or prostitute their bodies to feed themselves and their children The News, November 3,1995 Killing the dearest, the only way  The fundamentalist youth The greatest tragedy is that there seems no end to the sufferings of Afghan women. As a result, the majority of the Afghan women are suffering from mental disorder and have become a burden for their own parents. An Afghan refugees says that all the time he is worried about his three daughters. There is no law to check crimes against women in Afghanistan. In many cases women in the recent past were raped and tortured by unknown criminals in various parts of Afghanistan.  The recovery of mass graves of women near Kabul about four months ago is a glaring proof of the sort of agony Afghan women were passing through. "To protect the honour of my daughters, I want my daughters to be married as early as possible. No matter whether she is nine years old or 12 years old," says a man.  A RAWA report claims that on September 15,1993 several women with worn-out dresses were seen in Bagh-e-Bala. The women, according to the report, told that they had escaped from a jail, controlled by a group which was later ousted from Kabul. The report says that there has been an incident in which a father killed his daughter to escape cruel treatment at the hands of criminals. The report alleges that in the absence of any law, criminals break into houses of people for looting and dishonoring the women.  War has so badly devastated the Afghan nation where suffering has reached unprecedented heights. The Afghan feel so helpless - in Peshawar an Afghan refugee, Habibullah, was seen selling his two-year-old grandson. The man said that all his family members had been killed in the war. "I am an old man and there is no one to look after the child", he says that he does not want money, but is looking for someone who could guarantee this grandson’s well-being. There are numerous similar painful stories of Afghan women and children.  "WEEKEND POST", August,25,1995

An Afghan woman in Kabul. The only way to save her children from cool and hunger. Click here for more photos of beggry    

Women’s fault or cruelty in the name of "Shariat" (Islamic Law)? "Turpeki was taking her toddler to the doctor. The child had acute diarrhea and needed to be seen by a doctor soon. Turpeki was dressed in a borqa. She reached the market area when a teen-aged Taliban guard noticed her. The guard called her. Turpeki knew that if she stopped she would be beaten for appearing in public. She was also frightened that her child might die if she did not hurry. She began to run. The Taliban guard aimed his Kalashnikov at her and fired several rounds. Turpeki was hit but did not die. People intervened and took the mother and the child to the doctor. Turpeki’s family then complained to the Taliban leaders. But were simply told that it had been the woman’s fault. She should not have been appearing in public in the first place; once she did, she should stop, when told so, and not run away." .... "The young woman was carrying her baby, her two friends walking beside her. All three were veiled, their faces completely hidden from view. Suddenly a passing car braked to a halt and two men jumped out. From the style of their turbans, wrapped round their heads with one end loose and hanging almost down to the waist, it was clear they were the Taliban from Kandahar. .... Each was brandishing a stick. They set about beating the women on the legs as their arms rose and fell, they shouted that the women should never come out in public dressed in such immoral fashion again. A few inches of bare leg were showing above the women’s ankles between their shoes and the bottom of their pajama-style trousers. .... The women with the baby staggered and swayed beneath the blows, desperately trying to stay upright. None of the three dared to utter a sound as the sticks whipped their legs. Then the men got back in the car and drove off. The incident lasted less than five minutes, but it was sufficiently brutal to leave the women quaking as they limped silently away."   Women who did not have a burqa before the Taliban arrived in Kabul have had to spend excessive amounts of money to buy one. In mid-October 1996, a burqa reportedly cost as much as $33, about three times the salary of a senior civil servant. The serious finance burden this imposes on women who have lost their jobs has led to further punishment. An eye- witness reported Amnesty International: "A Taliban guard stopped an Afghan woman who had gone out of the house, and beat her severely with a cable rod for not wearing a burqa. The women cried that she could not afford to buy a burqa but the guard did not stop beating her.’   AI, November 18,1996