Under the Taleban, women were not allowed to work and girls were not allowed to go to school. If a woman was not fully covered by a burqa she would be beaten by the religious police.
Women make up more than 50% of the population of Afghanistan, and the international community is anxious that they should be properly represented in any future government.
Two women have been named as cabinet members in the interim administration, which has been called upon to guarantee women’s rights. But some officials and academics criticised the number of seats allocated to women at the loya jirga as "insufficient".
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