Women said still oppressed in Herat

An increasing number of women and even young girls have committed suicide in the Afghan province of Herat, ruled by local strongman Ismail Khan, because of oppressive social conditions that hark back to the time of the fundamentalist Taliban regime, according to a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). "The leader in power in Herat is just like the Taliban. He is not a democrat and has placed restrictions on women and girls, which is why many women have committed suicide," Suhaila, who uses a single name, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. In Herat, women were being forced into marriages, depriving them of the chance to go to school or to seek jobs, she added. "That is why all these women are committing suicide," Suhaila maintained. According to the RAWA member, most of the reported suicides had taken place in Herat but the trend also extended to the rural areas of other provinces such as Nimruz. "The women and girls of Afghanistan find themselves in the same situation as during the time of the Jihadis and the Taliban. These warlords, who are in power in the provinces, are just doing whatever they want. The government should control these provinces and their leaders - they should not be in power," Suhaila fumed. The government needed to introduce programmes specifically aimed at improving women's situation, she stressed. Established by prominent women intellectuals in 1977 as an independent political and social organisation working for human rights and social justice in Afghanistan, RAWA advocates democracy and secularism and works towards the improvement of women's rights.