Afghanistan

Afghanistan's parliamentary election was accompanied by claims of rampant fraud, but that wasn't its only failing. The ballot may also have given the outside world a false impression of progress on women's rights.

A record number of women ran in the September 18 election - there were 385 female candidates, 57 more than in the 2005 polls, among the 2,446 vying for 249 seats in parliament,

Standing up to Taliban death threats, a record number of women participated in Afghan parliamentary elections September 18.

“I am happy that Afghan women are becoming interested in politics day by day,” Fatana Gilani, head of the Afghan Women's Association, told Central Asia Online. “I am optimistic for the future of women in Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan's security forces have been bolstered by thousands of women officers as they go on high alert ahead of nationwide parliamentary elections on September 18, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports.

In a rural Kabul suburb, hundreds of men jostle for the chance to ink their finger and vote, while next door, shielded by a curtain, only a few women wait for their own line to form.

Although 10 of Kabul's 33 parliamentary seats have been reserved for women, few were visible in the capital's outlying hamlet of Chawni after voting began in Afghanistan's second parliamentary election since 2001.

In mid-August in the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz, the Taliban carried out a horrific sentence against two young Afghan lovers who had eloped against their families' wishes. The punishment was death by stoning. Deemed by Islamic extremists to be justified under sharia law, the process involves partially burying the accused, after which a male crowd hurls stones at the victims' exposed heads until they die.

But the 26-year-old Honaryar has an additional goal: the Sikh activist aims to become the first non-Muslim woman to gain a parliamentary seat in voting on September 18.

Interview with Dr. Massouda Jalal, former Afghan Minister for Women's Affairs.

Fawzya Gailani says her husband beat her when she won a seat in Afghanistan's parliament.
He was jealous that she won more than 14,000 votes in the country's first parliamentary election in 2005, while he only polled 160.

Taliban violence and intimidation are threatening Afghanistan's parliamentary elections as the government fails to protect candidates, especially women, a human rights watchdog said Thursday.

Afghanistan is due to go to the polls on September 18, when around 2,500 candidates will contest the 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga.

With international forces edging close to withdrawal and Taliban violence on the rise, Afghanistan's women appears to be facing a grim future.

A suspected poison gas attack on a girl's school in Kabul last month highlights the dangers that exist in a society dominated by patriarchal tribal traditions. Dozens of students were injured in the kind of incident that is becoming commonplace across the country.