IWPR Afghanistan Top Stories

Afghan Women Complain Over "Symbolic" Roles

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 12:48:52 +0100

Statistics showing rising numbers of female officials do not tell the whole story.

Maliha (not her real name) works in the press office of an Afghan government ministry. She told IWPR that although one of her responsibilities was to issue invitations to press conferences and briefings, her boss simply did not allow her the authority to do her job.

“The minister selects specific media and then orders me to inform the outlets he has already chosen,” she said. “It has affected my dignity at work and my reputation. Although I have the authority, the minister does not allow [me to use it]. If my role is not symbolic then what would you call it?”

Women working with government in Afghanistan warn that statistics showing growing numbers of female employees do not tell the whole story about ongoing gender bias within the workplace.

Female lawmakers in the Afghan parliament. (Photo: Eric Kanalstein/Getty Images)
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Afghanistan: IWPR Trainee Hailed for Groundbreaking Investigation

Mon, 15 May 2017 13:21:12 +0100

Story on the taboo of sexual rejection amongst Afghan women wins numerous accolades.

An IWPR reporter has received widespread acclaim for her investigative report on the sexual frustration of women whose husbands take more wives.

Naqiba Barakzai spent more than ten months working on the groundbreaking piece, facing abuse and even death threats during the course of her work.

(See Afghanistan: The Taboo of Sexual Rejection).

She told IWPR that she was amazed by both the support from IWPR and the positive response to her story, including a special award from the governor of Herat. The piece also won numerous national prizes.

Naqiba Barakzai is honoured on World Press Freedom Day. (Photo: IWPR)
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Traumatic Night Raids Haunt Afghan Women

Mon, 15 May 2017 12:01:35 +0100

Counter-terror tactic seen as an unacceptable violation of privacy with long-term consequences.

At 11pm on the night of April 3, 2016, Bibi Sahra was woken by a group of armed soldiers storming into her family home.

The 37-year-old, from the village of Qala Taqai in Baraki Barak district, recounted how the door of the bedroom was kicked in and half-a-dozen Afghan army soldiers in camouflage gear entered. A voice booming out over a loudspeaker warned everyone not to move.

“Me and my husband Ajmal, who’s a farmer, and our three little daughters were terrified and took refuge in the corner of the room,” she said. “One of the soldiers, without any questions, immediately hit my husband several times with the butt of his Kalashnikov.”

Sahra said that she tried arguing with the soldiers as her girls began crying and screaming.

Women and children hide in a corner as their home is searched during a raid by the Afghan National Army. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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Afghans Angry Over Fake Medicine

Mon, 08 May 2017 16:14:54 +0100

Trade in out-of-date or counterfeit medication is booming in country’s east.

For the last year Ziaullah, a resident of Jalalabad city in the eastern province of Nangarhar, has been regularly taking the medicine his doctor prescribed to treat his kidney stones.

But his agonising condition had not improved for one simple reason, he told IWPR. It was virtually impossible to get decent medication locally, with a market flooded with substandard or out-of-date drugs.

“My disease has made me tired of living,” he said, explaining that as he lacked the money to go abroad for treatment, he had no option but to take the poor quality medication available and hope for the best.

“Between pain and poverty on the one hand and substandard medicine on the other, I can’t take any more,” he continued. “May Allah almighty help me, these drugs won’t.”

An Afghan pharmacist talks to a young customer. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
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Child Malnutrition Mounts in Afghan Province

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:11:43 +0100

Increased fighting and an ongoing economic downturn are leaving many at risk of serious health problems.

Rising numbers of children in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar are suffering from malnutrition, according to local health officials, with more than 36,000 in need of assistance.

Ahmadullah Faizi, head of public nutrition at Kandahar’s department of public health, told IWPR that their most recent figures, from December 2016, showed that 20,157 children were suffering from moderate malnutrition. A further 16,000 were suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

Faizi explained that this indicated a rise of nearly 4,000 children from two years ago. The true number was likely to be even higher, he continued, noting that his figures only accounted for those children whose parents were able to seek treatment at public health centres.

A malnurished baby is measured to monitor her growth at a hospital in Kabul. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
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Afghanistan: Women Seek Refuge in Safe Houses

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 13:45:44 +0100

The whole concept of such shelters remains controversial in this deeply conservative country.

The beatings began soon after Zahra, now 22, was married off to a 75-year old man in exchange for a large bride price.

“My father was blinded by money and he gave me in marriage to this man,” she told IWPR. “Every time my husband was violent to me, his family members used to tell me, ‘Your husband has these rights over you, you should put up with it.’

“On many nights during the cold winter I was dragged out of the house for no reason, my hands and feet were tied with chains and I was forced to spend the whole night outside the back door in the snow, and no one would help me.”

The abuse became so severe that eventually Zahra’s case was brought before a community Jirga, or council of elders, for resolution.

Bamiyan shelter and safe house cares for battered Afghan women. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
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Afghanistan: The Female Engineers Rebuilding History

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:43:16 +0100

Groundbreaking project showcases women’s achievements in a male-dominated industry.

The ruins of Kabul’s once grand Darulaman Palace, devastated by decades of war, have long been an iconic sight in the capital. An ambitious Afghan-led 16 million US dollar reconstruction project agreed in May 2016 aims to both restore the palace built by King Amanullah Khan in the 1920s and turn it into a symbol of regeneration rather than conflict.

But for the 27 female engineers working on the restoration, the Palace project is also a statement of just what women can achieve in their male-dominated field.

“On one hand, working at this palace boosts our self-confidence and on the other, it’s a good example for other women too,” said engineering graduate Masooma Dilijan, who has been employed at the Darulaman project for the last year.

Women in burqas walk in front of the ruins of Darulaman Palace in Kabul. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
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Afghanistan: Fighting for Disability Rights

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 12:15:09 +0100

Disabled people say they face social prejudice and government inaction.

Fazluddin, a tall, thin 25-year-old who lives in Dolana, central Parwan, has a whole household to support on nothing more than disability stipends.

He himself lost his right eye and suffered multiple injuries aged just two when the family was caught in a Taleban bombardment. His mother, who now lives with him, lost her right arm in the same attack.

Fazluddin also has to support his 55-year-old aunt Suraya, who was paralysed in a grenade strike during the Russian occupation of the 1980s.

"We live in a house that stays cold all winter. We eat once a day,” he told IWPR, explaining that the whole family, including his wife, had to live from the 900 US dollars the household received annually in disability payments.

Afghan war amputees and children practice walking at the ICRC orthopaedic centre in Kabul. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
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