Women need better treatment

The Afghan Women's Council has expressed regret over the treatment meted out to women in terms of representation in the Loya Jirga, the extreme poverty and hunger in Afghanistan, lawlessness and increasing incidents of rape and kidnappings in the Afghan capital under the interim set-up.

The AWC said the role of women is limited in the Loya Jirga. This should not be the case because they suffered more than anyone else and should be given the right to represent more than 50 per cent of the population.

Poverty and hunger, a survey by AWC said, loom large on the horizon and most of the people in crowded Kabul have no food, and the government has no plans to arrest growing unemployment.

On the security situation, the survey revealed that most of the people in the city have no confidence in the existing security arrangements as kidnappings were taking place unabated. The AWC noticed that rape had once again been brought to the fore by warlords and their loyalists.