Lana Slezic: Afghan Women

I went to Afghanistan in March 2004 on a 6-week assignment. I stayed two years.

In the beginning, I naively anticipated the women and girls would be more independent, more educated, less oppressed than they actually were. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the international media, for the most part, has emphazised the liberation of Afghan women and democracy in Afghanistan.

In reality very little has changed, particularly in the rural regions of the country. Over ninety percent of Afghan women are illiterate and many are not allowed to leave their homes. Girls are bought and sold to solve land and monetary disputes. Self immolation, domestic violence, forced marriage, denial of education and isolation are just a few of the issues that women face daily.

The social and political issues are far more complex than most foreign media, non-government organizations and corporations care to address in Afghanistan. After two years of living and traveling there, my understanding barely scrapes the surface of a culture that is largely tribal, where rules have been carved out over generations and the general rule of law does not apply. Understanding that it is futile to impress western values and standarts on Afghan mentality is a lesson that has escaped many foreigners working to rebuild Afghanistan. Few venture to spend any real time in rural communities and villages and without this investment it is inevitable that the inertia of ignorance will take its course.

In the end, it is the women and girls who suffer the most. It was my greatest privilege to share in their lives and learn from their often earnest and palpable stories - heart breaking on so many occasions and hopeful in few. This is a selection from the body of work which will be published in book form in the Autumn of 2007.