Afghan women shoulder war woes

More than 70,000 families wait for ICRC food

By BBC News Online's Kate Goldberg

The women of Afghanistan were already suffering under one of the most restrictive regimes in the world even before the current bombing.

But now the US air strikes have further exacerbated the situation.

Food is the biggest issue. People are just hoping to find enough to eat once a day.

Sahar Saba, RAWA

As many men leave for the frontlines or flee, tens of thousands of women and children have been stranded without financial support.

The Taleban have banned women from working or receiving an education, making it impossible for them to earn a legal living.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says that outside help was critical in keeping these people alive.

The ICRC, along with other international aid agencies, was told to withdraw its expatriate staff on 16 September.

Women travelled up to five days to aid distribution points, suspended after 11 September

"Many people were totally reliant on humanitarian assistance. Several million were being fed by humanitarian agencies like the ICRC and UN ," said Charlotte Lindsey, author of an ICRC report on women facing war, published on Wednesday.

Aid distribution has now been suspended, and little information is filtering through to the outside world about the situation in the Taleban-controlled areas.

Food shortages

But aid workers say lack of food is the major issue.

"Before the bombing, many women were gravitating towards the cities in the hopes that there would be more aid - even though cities are more restrictive in terms of women's rights," said Nick Danziger, who has worked in Afghanistan for the last 17 years.

Women are even more vulnerable at a time of war

Decades of war have left thousands of single mothers.

"There are thousands of widows in large cities like Kabul. But there are even more single women who are not widows - but whose husbands have gone to fight or look for work," said Mr Danziger.

"I even met a 10-year-old girl who was head of her household, looking after two younger children."

Since the air raids began, the cities no longer feel safe, and people are once more fleeing to villages and rural areas.

There is also little sign of the humanitarian aid drops, according to a rare organisation working to improve the position of women in Afghanistan, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) .

"Food is the biggest issue. People are just hoping to find enough to eat once a day. They don't know what to do or where to go," said Sahar Saba of RAWA.

Stranded

The UNHCR was expecting a massive influx of refugees into neighbouring countries in the wake of the bombing, but only a fraction of the expected number have managed to cross the border.

Women have had a tough time, which ever side of the civil war they've been on

Nick Danziger

Pakistan has refused entry to all but a few, and others are being charged high prices by smugglers, organised and controlled by Taleban forces, according to the UNHCR.

"Women are the most vulnerable people, and they often have no money to get to the borders, and no place in Afghan society," said Melita Sunjic, UNHCR spokesperson.

"There's been a lot of population movement within Afghanistan, but we don't know where they're going."

Nick Danziger believes that many people may be stranded in remote areas, unable to pay for transport or the services of smugglers.

"Most people have had to sell their livestock, including their pack animals that could have helped them leave," said Mr Danziger.

"It's important to get food in before the mountain passes become inaccessible in the winter."

'Northern Alliance no better'

The particular suffering of women has been aggravated by years of civil war, drought and a deeply conservative culture.

"Women have had a tough time, whichever side of the civil war they've been on," said Mr Danziger.

"The Northern Alliance, for example, doesn't allow women to be touched by male doctors.

"Often a woman is denied access to medical care - sometimes by the imam, sometimes by her husband, and sometimes because the woman herself is ashamed."

Even before the Taleban came to power, few girls were educated in rural areas, he added.

"There would be no change in the situation with a Northern Alliance government," said Ms Saba.

Photographs taken by Nick Danziger