The lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghan women and children have been shattered in the human rights catastrophe that has devastated Afghanistan over the past few years. Afghan women were required to wear burkas, which are full-body outer garments that covered their whole entire bodies. Their view of the world is distorted by the veil they must wear to cover their eyes. These veils even make it difficult for women to cross the street, because they are unable to see from right to left. The wearing of the burka used to be optional before the Taliban came into power. However, under Taliban rule, oppression of women was at it’s worst. Alongside the appalling abuse they encountered, women have been prevented from exercising several of their fundamental rights including the right to vote, to get an education, to obtain employment, and to receive health care benefits. Now, with the liberation of Kabul along with other Afghan cities, and help from the United States, women are beginning to return to their rightful roles in society, the ones they choose for themselves.
Before the Taliban took over rule of Afghanistan in 1995, women were allowed to vote, hold government office, and were able to work. However, all of these right

If a woman was allowed to obtain healthcare, she was not able to be examined by a male physician. Infant mortality rates were very high, as women were not allowed to be aided during childbirth by a doctor. Many women also died during child rearing. The life expectancy for women was much lower than the men.

rights came to an abrupt halt under this new government leadership. As mentioned above, it became law for women to wear the burka. Failure to abide by this rule would ensure fines, threats, and public beatings. If any woman revealed any part of her body in public, she risked being beaten or killed as well. “Many rural women, especially, claim to wear it willingly, at least when they speak in the presence of their husband’s”(38). However, talk to the same woman when her husband is not in hearing distance and she will tell you that “the cloth covering can induce panic, claustrophobia and headaches”38). To me, like many others it is a symbol of oppression. This furthers the gap between the “us” and “them” notion that most non-Islamic people have around the world, because in our country, like most others in the world, women are doctors, lawyers, teachers, government leaders, and exercise the right to vote. In every other Arab region in the world women’s rights are not restricted as they are in Afghanistan. As elsewhere in the Muslim world and the United States, women chose to use the burka as a matter of individual religious or personal preference. Although the Taliban claims that it was acting in the best interests of women, the truth is that the Taliban regime has cruelly reduced women and children to poverty, worsened their health by denying them adequate healthcare, and deprived them of their right to an education. In some cases they are denied the right to practice their religion. As a result of these measures, the Taliban was ensuring that women would continue to sink deeper into poverty and deprivation. This would guarantee that in the future, women would have none of the skills needed to function in a modern society.

The Taliban claimed that it was trying to ensure a society in which women had a safe and dignified role in soc