In a brutal and Taliban-like process a girl, only 15 years old, was sentenced to 'hundred lashes' on the charges of adultery. The 'Kanagroo Court' that announced and then carried out the sentence, in front of hundreds of people, was led by a cleric in Jaghori district of Ghazni province.

The boy, a tailor, who was charged with sexual ties with the girl, was fined 80,000 Afghanis. Courts, led by so-called religious clerics, are still present in some parts of the country wherein the cases are dealt by the tribal leaders or religious clerics on their own. In most of them a proper trial is never carried out and the accused are not given proper opportunities to defend themselves. In short, they are far away from doing justice to the people.

On the other hand, when there is a case relevant to a woman, the so-called honor of the tribe comes into discussion and the woman is victimized by worst kind of the punishment. In the mentioned incident as well the girl has faced the same fate. According to a statement from the girl's sister, "My sister is now in a bad health condition. We fear she will commit suicide if we left her alone at home".

Women have been victimized in Afghan society in different ways. They have always faced discrimination and the social norms and values in tribal regions of the country have not been able to give them their due position. Different incidents have been carried out that have been aimed to torture them mentally and physically and even to take their lives.

Within a couple of recent months, some of the incidents are worth consideration.
Hanifa Safi, the Head of Women Affairs Department in Laghman province was assassinated brutally. After her, another woman in a key position was assassinated by unknown gunman. The targeted woman was Seema Aka Khel – the principal of Ahmadshah Abdali Girls School in northern Balkh province. According to the news reports, she was murdered at her home, while her husband and father in law were in the mosque. It is yet unknown that who killed her and investigations are on the way; however, there are great possibilities that she was targeted by extremist Taliban or their supporters – the ones who cannot tolerate the participation of women in social and political lives and are ready to go to any extreme so as to limit their participation.

These attacks are definitely a continuation of the series of incidents that have been taking place in different parts of the country so as to discourage women from playing their role in society. After the downfall of Taliban, there has been relative improvement in the status of women, but for the last some months there have been incidents that point at the deterioration of it.

There have been different efforts made to dishearten women in different ways. A couple of months earlier there was a machination to keep the girls away from school. Hundreds of girls were poisoned mysteriously in certain provinces within their schools. Prior to that there were incidents when acid was thrown on the faces of the girls who would go to school.

Then there were the incidents of Sahar Gul and Gul Naz. Who can forget the inhuman violence that was carried out against them? They were beaten, forced to prostitution and even misused by their own husbands and in-laws. When the women's husbands, who should be their guardians and guarantee their security, themselves are involved in misusing them in the worst possible manner, the prospects of a better live for Afghan women seems very much dim.

All these facts seem to be pointing at the scenario quite similar to Taliban era. Moreover, there are many women who fear that Taliban may return after the withdrawal of security forces and achievements that have been made regarding the rights and development of women would be lost.

The worst of the incidents that refreshed the memories of the Taliban era took place almost a month ago. A Taliban member shot dead a woman in front of a crowd near Kabul. The woman was accused of adultery and the so-called pious servant of God treated her with the best he knew.

She was shot five times as she was kneeling helpless in front of a crowd of about 150 men, who as a response to the punishment cherished the act. One from within the crowd commented, "It is the order of Allah that she be executed". There is no doubt that the punishment was senseless, but what to name the response of the people standing and cherishing around? This is Talibanism in its purist form and unfortunately it is at a time when billions of dollars have been spent and thousands of lives have been lost to eradicate the menace.

It can now be easily concluded that the incidents violating women rights in Afghanistan have not been stopped though there have been many claims of developments. In fact the changes are prevalent only on the exterior while from within the Afghan society still lacks the modernity and development it needs in order to reach to a respectable position. The support and assistance of the international community has only been able to provide clean and beautiful attire not a praiseworthy soul to Afghan society and this attire is going to get dirty very soon.

The Afghan social structure has been vehemently dominated by religious extremism and tribal nepotism. Though these factors have affected almost everyone, women have been intensely influenced as they belong to the weaker strata of the society. Most of the self-designed religious doctrines and tribal norms are against the women and discriminate their basic rights. Unfortunately, these norms and doctrines have even gone to the extent of violence and have tortured women physically – mostly in the public. They, in the name of dignity of women, have in fact degraded them. The concept of so-called tribal honor and dignity has not been able to provide safety and respect to Afghan women.