In 1992, the pro-Soviet government collapsed and the power struggle continued, this time between the various factions and militias that controlled different territories throughout Afghanistan. Civilians were targeted in retaliatory attacks. Many women were raped and some kidnapped and sold into prostitution. Along with those wartime atrocities, many parts of the country forbid women from exercising fundamental rights they considered un-Islamic.

In 1995, a group of fundamentalist Sunni Muslim called the Taleban swept through the country with military successes against rival factions. Today, the Taleban controls an estimated 90% of Afghanistan.

Under Taleban rule, women have been barred almost completely from the workforce. The Taleban contend that "In spite of war condition in the country and with no work in the offices, the communist regime forced a large number of women to attend government offices only for their amusement." Though female health professionals were given special exemptions and allowed to work under strict guidelines, the state of women's healthcare has gone from bad to worse. Women are forbidden from working outside approved health care structures and segregation is a must.

The Taleban forbid girls from attending school and shut down schools that taught girls. In June of 1998, they issued an edict ordering the closure of more than 100 private schools that were educating girls in defiance of the ban. Many of the home-based schools were run by international aid groups who said such education was vital to the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

The head of the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (DPVPV), however, accused the schools of spreading anti-Taleban propaganda. Home-schooling for girls would be allowed, they said, provided the girls are under the age of 8 and lessons are limited to the Koran. "These schools weren't just for children. They also included 14- and 15-year-old girls," said Religious Affairs Minister Haji Khulimuddin.

Women must be completely covered. Completely. In order to "protect the honor, dignity, and personal safety of the women in Afghanistan," women must wear a veil over their face any time they are in public. Women who don't comply with these edicts are publicly ridiculed and beaten by members of the DPVPV. Women have been lashed on the back of the legs by Taleban guards for showing their ankles or wearing the wrong colour shoes. A women who ran a home school for girls was shot and killed in front of her husband, daughter, and students. A women who was caught trying to flee Afghanistan with a man that was not related to her was stoned to death for adultery. It's ironic that these laws are supposedly implemented to ensure the physical protection of women, yet being beaten for violating these laws is one of the biggest concerns for Afghan women.

In another ironic twist, Afghanistan has become the second largest opium exporter in the world while the Taleban forbid drinking, smoking, and gambling. Selling opium is completely kosher to the Taleban, because according to their interpretation of Islamic law, using opium is forbidden, but selling it is not. This argument is dismissed by countless muslim groups and Iran has come to the brink of war with Afghanistan because of it's drug trafficking.

Meanwhile, the human rights situation for men is not favourable either. The UN says that children as young as 14 are being used as soldiers in Afghanistan's long running civil war. Famine is widespread; the UN predicted a food shortage of 1.13 million tons by next year. Because of the drug trade, the best farming lands in Afghanistan go towards opium growing. Countless refugees are displaced because of the continued fighting. Anyone -- man, woman, or child -- accused of theft has their hands cut off, sometimes even whole limbs.

It must be observed that such treatment of people -- women in particular -- is not the product of Islam. The situation arises from politics; religion is a guise. "Obviously, the Taliban's military prowess far exceeds their knowledge of Islam," said Dr. Hassan Hathout, Director of Outreach at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

So what can you do about such atrocities going on so far away? Perhaps the most important thing is to write your government officials. In Canada, write to your member of Parliament and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the U.S., write to your representative and senators as well as the Secretary of State. Last October, U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright met with Taleban officials and offered more normal relations if the country expelled international terrorist Osama bin Laden. With regard to the status of women in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Albright said "I say it is criminal and we each have a responsibility to stop it." Urge her to stand firm on that and not to recognize the Taleban until such atrocities stop.