Afghanistan

Women's precarious rights in Afghanistan have begun seeping away. Girls' schools are closing; working women are threatened; advocates are attacked; and terrified families are increasingly confining their daughters to home.

In Afghanistan, despite a pledge from the government to protect women's rights and promote gender equality, more than 87% of Afghan women suffer from domestic abuse. According to the United Nations, between 60 to 80 percent of marriages are forced. In 2009, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission registered about 2,269 cases of violence against women. In January of 2010 alone there were 235 cases.

A group of NATO Training Mission –Afghanistan mentors hosted a women's forum for female Afghan National Army members July 18 at the Logistics Command in Kabul. Afghan women face many challenges; cultural, societal and religious views create barriers that often prevent them from entering the work force, attending school or joining their military.

Amidst the disarray following General McChrystal's interview with Rolling Stone, a much less reported but profound event marked the course of the insurgency in Afghanistan. The recent female suicide operation in eastern Afghanistan reveals not only a paradigm shift in Taliban insurgent tactics, but also a mutation of the organization's founding ideology.

Amid rising opposition to the war in Afghanistan and speculation about a U.S. withdrawal, debate has begun over what will happen to Afghan women and girls should U.S. troops leave. From former first lady Laura Bush to top California female lawmakers including Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, women leaders in America have been ardent champions of Afghan women since the U.S.

Hillary Clinton today promised that any peace deal with the ultra-conservative Taliban movement would not come at the cost of the rights of Afghan women.The US secretary of state told a conference of the world's foreign ministers that women in the country "will not be sacrificed" and announced a number of initiatives to improve their situation.

Dozens of Afghan women from the provinces of Kandahar in the south to Takhar in the north are calling on Afghan leaders to give more visibility to women's rights at the Kabul Conference on Tuesday, cautioning that unless more is done to include women in the national decision making, the progress towards women's empowerment made in the past decade will be lost.

Women living in Afghanistan's safest region are retreating behind the veil amid fears they are being stalked by a resurgent Taliban determined to trample their rights. Human rights groups are concerned that plans by the Afghan government to make peace with the Taliban could lead to an erosion of women's liberties.

Plans for a peace deal with the Taleban in Afghanistan could seriously jeopardize the rights of the Afghan people, in particular Afghan women, unless concrete human rights benchmarks are incorporated, said Amnesty International.

U.S. intelligence officials say they have intercepted new orders from the Taliban's spiritual leader that call on insurgents to target women and Afghan civilians helping American-led forces. One year after issuing a detailed code of conduct that called on Taliban fighters to protect Afghan civilians, NATO officials say, Mullah Omar has issued new directives to his commanders that appear to represent a tougher stance.