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Home Empowering Women In Afghanistan

In the province of Bamian, far away from the Taliban insurgency, in this most peaceful corner of Afghanistan, a quiet revolution is gaining pace. Women are driving cars — a rarity in Afghanistan — working in public offices and police stations, and sitting on local councils. There is even a female governor, the first and only one in Afghanistan.

As documented in this New York Times video, in many ways Bamian is unique. A half-dozen years of relative peace in this part of the country since the fall of the Taliban and a lessening of lawlessness and disorder have allowed women to push the boundaries here.

But the changes in women’s lives here – as depicted in these profiles of a pioneering female police officer, the nation’s first female governor, and even an anomalous female driver -- are also an enormous step for Afghanistan as a whole. And they may point the way to broader possibilities for women, eventually, if peace can be secured in this very conservative Muslim society.

Length: 3:29

Video: Abdul Waheed Wafa, Carlotta Gall, Adam B. Ellick

VIEW: http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=961ff7a9192db5ee206fa770b6154d586f1cc886

SEE ALSO:

In Poverty and Strife, Women Test Limits:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/world/asia/06bamian.html

Women Gaining Rights in Bamian (Slideshow – 7 images):
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/10/05/world/200801006BAMIYAN_index.html

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