Afghan women have always suffered from the constraints of tribalism, poverty, and war. Today they begin the fight for a fair life.
1. Two women on the mountainside. In Afghanistan, you will rarely see a woman unaccompanied by a man. Nur Nisa, 18, is pregnant and her water just broke. Her husband, whose first wife died during childbirth, was taking her to a hospital in Faizabad, a four-hour drive from their village in the Badakhshan region, when his car broke down and he went in search of another vehicle.
2. Previously, when Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban, the only women you could meet on the street were beggars or the wives of disabled men. On Fridays, the Taliban carried out public executions at a stadium in Kabul. And ten years later, at a rally of one of the presidential candidates in the same stadium, most of the women present were not even wearing burqas.
3. Herat - the shrine of Shahzada Qasim, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad are more than a thousand years old. Once a week, part of the room is fenced off, and women have the opportunity to come here to worship. At the Herat shrine, women must be shrouded in veils that cover the body from head to toe (a similar rule exists in Iran).
4. It’s not easy to photograph an Afghan wedding. In them, women often appear in rather open dresses, and even use facial cosmetics. A photograph in this form is very rare. In this photo you see a wedding in Kabul where Amin Shaheen, the son of director Salim Shaheen, is getting married. His chosen one is 18-year-old Fershita.
5. In the photo is 19-year-old Bibi Ayesha. At the age of 12, the girl was given in marriage to a man who was much older than her. From the day of the wedding, he constantly beat the girl. One day he almost beat her to death, and the frightened girl decided to escape. To punish her for leaving without permission, her husband took her to a remote mountainous area and cut off her nose, ears, and hair. “If I had the opportunity, I would kill him,” says the crippled girl. Ayesha arrived in the United States in August to undergo extensive reconstructive surgery.
6. TV presenter Rokshara Azami, who is idolized by all young Afghan girls, works on a popular television program in the country, where people who call can order video clips. Banned television under the control of the Taliban is now extremely popular in the country.
7. An Ethiopian surgeon (in a green cap, center) demonstrates to female staff at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul how to remove a fistula in the opening between the vagina and bladder. This disease often occurs in young mothers after childbirth.
8. In Afghanistan, most women give birth at home, even without midwives. In the photo: a hospital in the town of Faizabad. Hospital doctors, nurses, and midwives work here around the clock. These Afghan women, who trained in Kabul and even some in Russia, have the skills and equipment to deal with various complications during childbirth.
9. All village women are encouraged to attend a health and hygiene class taught by a professional midwife working in a mobile clinic sponsored by the United Nations Foundation and the international medical aid group Merlin. They show women living in isolated areas of the country how to take care of themselves during the pre- and postpartum period.
10. This mother walked five hours to see a midwife at the mobile clinic in the village of Koreh-e Bala. She is awaiting medical advice regarding her ten-month-old baby, who has been ill since birth.
11. Afghan policewomen are trained to use AMD-65 rifles at a training ground outside Kabul. They are being trained by Italian carabinieri sent here by NATO. Joining the Afghan police is a very brave decision on the part of women, because everyone knows quite frequent cases of insurgent attacks on the police. Also, to enroll, women must obtain written permission from their husband and other male relatives. Of the country's 100,000 officers, about 700 are women. Their monthly salary is approximately $165.
12. These young Afghan women are part of the team that will go to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where women's boxing will make its official debut as an Olympic sport. The athletes have already won, having persuaded their relatives to allow them to participate in sports competitions.
13. Kabul. These two girls are dressed up in honor of their relative's wedding. Before such events, many Afghan women and girls apply makeup and spend hours at hairdressers.
14. With her face and hair exposed, Afghan actress Traina Amiri and her friend drive around Kabul on Friday. They listen to their favorite songs, sing and have fun. Even in relatively progressive Kabul, disgruntled men driving past shout something at her. This is natural, because she symbolizes the image of a free, strong woman, to which they are not at all accustomed. Amiri ran away from her husband, who kept her at home and beat her, seven years ago, even leaving behind her three sons. She doesn't plan to get married again, but knows she might have to or she might not survive in Afghanistan.
15. A female prisoner in Mazar-e Shrif prison has just been informed of her release, bringing tears of joy to 22-year-old Maida Khal. When she was 12 years old, she was married to a 70-year-old paralyzed man. “I was so small that I couldn’t even lift him. Because of this, his brothers constantly beat me,” the girl recalls. Four years ago, she asked for a divorce, for which she went to prison.
16. Empty opium pods lying around the house of a woman who is addicted to drugs. Region of northern Afghanistan, Balkh... She says that she collected poppies as a child, and by the age of 12 she was already seriously addicted to eating and smoking the drug. “Opium is my son, my daughter,” she says. “I had no food all winter. Opium was my food." Now she is completely dependent on her neighbors to look after her. Afghanistan is the world leader in the supply of opium, which is used to make heroin.
17. “I took a bottle of gasoline and set myself on fire,” says 11-year-old Fariba. “When I went to school, all the kids laughed at me, saying I was ugly.” Now she regrets what she did. Fariba says that the reason was a woman who came to her in a dream and told her to burn herself. Self-immolation is very common in Afghanistan, as many women believe that suicide is the only escape from abusive marriages, poverty, and the Cold War.
18. At Estetklal Hospital in Kabul, doctors try to save 15-year-old Zahra, who doused herself with gasoline and set herself on fire after being accused by neighbors of theft. The girl from Mazar-e Sharif suffered burns over 95 percent of her body. She died three days after this photo was taken.
19. Ghulam Farok, an Afghan National Army soldier, distributes bread to widows and other women near the shrine of poet and philosopher Kwaja Abdullah Ansari in Herat. The country has 35 percent unemployment and 36 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
20. Corporal Lance Elizabeth Reyes, of the US Marines, chats with Afghan women and their children at a clinic in the Helmand region, which is one of the most dangerous in the country. She is a member of the relatively new women's engagement team. Such teams communicate and try to gain the trust of Afghan women, who are not allowed to talk to men outside their families.
21. Habiba Sarabi, from the Bamyan region, the only female governor in Afghanistan, takes a morning walk with her bodyguard. The Bamiyan region, famous for the giant Buddha statue that was destroyed by the Taliban, is one of the most favorable areas for women to travel and work outside the home.
22. Young women, most of whom are studying to become teachers, relax in the Women's Garden of the park, near the city of Bamiyan. Created by the region's female governor, Habiba Sarabi, the garden is a tranquil, open-air retreat.
23. Most girls in Afghanistan receive no education at all. Even those who go to school usually study there for only four years. In the photo: Graduated specialists from the Department of Language and Literature at Kabul National University. The Taliban banned women's education, but education resumed after the fall of their regime in 2001.
