When we look around the world today, when we see in Afghanistan that 10 million people have registered to vote in their upcoming elections, including 40 percent of those people are women, that's just unbelievable.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I mean, honestly, we have to be clear that the life for many Afghan women is not that much different than it was a hundred years ago, 200 years ago. The country has lived with so much violence and conflict that many people, men and women, just want it to be over.
In Afghanistan, we have had a history of very strong women, and we need to reclaim that history and talk about it.
In a place like Afghanistan where the society is completely segregated, women have access to women. Men cannot always photograph women and cannot get the access that I get.
I feel Afghanistan has a very strong social fabric and sense of family... what I would like to do is encourage everybody in the country to appreciate more the role of women at home and outside.
The draconian prohibitions of the Taliban years and the gains Afghan women have achieved since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001 are now well known and often cited: Today, Afghans lucky enough to live in secure regions can go to school, women may work in offices, and the burqa is no longer mandatory.
A lot of men in politics suddenly woke up to the issue of women in politics when they realised: hey, there are votes in this!
Afghan women, as a group, I think their suffering has been equaled by very few other groups in recent world history.
The women of Afghanistan have a voice, and it needs to be heard and not forgotten.
I think the emancipation of women in Afghanistan has to come from inside, through Afghans themselves, gradually, over time.
We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy. Twenty million women are denied the right to vote.