Female Afghan Students

What with Wikileaks and all, good news from Afghanistan is hard to come by at the moment. Indeed this photo gallery from The Big Picture, Afghanistan July 2010, makes on the whole for grim viewing.

Here, though, is the other side of the story:

[Photo: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images]

"Female Afghan students attend Kabul university on July 6, 2010. The...status of women in Afghanistan has changed since the Taliban regime where women were forced to wear the burqa in public. The face of a woman was considered a source of corruption for men not related to them. They were not allowed to work and not allowed to be educated after the age of eight and then only permitted to study the Qur'an. Women wanting to be educated were forced to attend underground schools such as the Golden Needle Sewing School and along with their teachers risked execution if caught. They also were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone often leading to illnesses remaining untreated."

(Yes, the dummy in the bed is rather alarming.)

Comments

[Bob-B]

Of course this won't stop the let's abandon Afghanistan to the Taliban brigade claiming that things are no better now than they were under the Taliban.

[Sadie]

The absence of blue burqas is quite a mile marker.

War is ugly and sad but there is not even the hint of peace without it.

Thanks for the link.