Sunday, November 25, 2001

HAVE LES MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES SEEN THIS?
child Image
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP
A young Afghan child carries some U.S. humanitarian aid packages near the village of Khawaja Bahuddine in northeast Afghanistan.

Saturday, November 24, 2001

SWEET LIBERTY
Reuters Photo

An Afghan Dervish cries as others pray in their prayer house in Kabul, during the Friday gathering November 23, 2001. Swaying gently at first, chanting in monotones, the roomful of Dervishes slowly builds up to a frenzy of prayers forbidden to them for the past five years of the strict Taliban rule. Dervishes are Sufis, a spiritual offshoot of Islam, who believe their bodies open up to the energy of God when they are in prayer. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
SHAVING-- ANOTHER THING WE TAKE FOR GRANTED
Associated Press
Afghan men stand by a bin of razors in a market in Herat, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. Shaving was forbidden under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, but now some men have chosen to use razors. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
KORANIC SCHOOL FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
Associated Press
Afghan students gather in Quranic school in Jame'e Mosque in Herat, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. Children go to Quranic schools in Afghanistan when schools are closed from Nov. until January for their winter holiday. Under Taliban rule girls were previously banned from going to school. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
BALLOONS ARE BACK
Associated Press
Afghan balloon seller Mohammed Agha,18, pictured with a fellow vendor in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, November 21, 2001. Agha says if he caught the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden he figures, $25 million would buy 100 party balloons at a wholesale price of two cents each. A lot of Afghans are tempted when they learn of President Bush's bounty on the head of bin Laden, but few have even a vague notion of how much that is worth. (AP photo/Brennan Linsley)
BEYOND WAHABISM
Reuters Photo
Kneeling on the carpeted floor of their prayer house in Kabul, Afghan Dervishes pray during their Friday gathering November 23, 2001. Swaying gently at first, chanting in monotones, the roomful of Dervishes slowly builds up to a frenzy of prayers forbidden to them for the past five years of the strict Taliban rule. Dervishes are Sufis, a spiritual offshoot of Islam, who believe their bodies open up to the energy of God when they are in prayer. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
HOW DO THESE WOMEN LIST THE LAST FIVE YEARS ON THEIR RESUMES?
Associated Press
Fakria Sarwar waits her turn to audition for a news readers position at Radio Afghanistan in Kabul on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. Women in the Afghan capital are heading back to work after five long years banned from jobs and education.(AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)
BACK TO WORK
Associated Press
From left: Bibi, Farhanda, Noori Jan and Shazia, a group of Afghan doctors, walk through a corridor of the Rabia Balkhi hospital for women in Kabul on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)
OUT OF THE WAITING ROOM, INTO THE OFFICE
Associated Press
Farhanda and Noori Jan, both Afghan doctors, look at a patient's x-ray at the Rabia Balkhi hospital for women on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. At the hospital, female doctors were forbidden to work alongside their male colleagues during the Taliban regime. Starting Saturday, that rule is dead, by order of the new health ministry. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)
FREE TO BE LIKE MOHAMMED ALI
Reuters Photo
An Afghan boxer exercises under the poster of the legendary champion Mohammed Ali in a small boxing club in suburbs of Kabul November 24, 2001. Under the strict Taliban rule, boxing was forbiden as "anti-Islamic" and clubs were working behind closed doors. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
FREE TO GIVE AID
Associated Press
Afghan women attend a training session held by United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) country director Jerad Wendii at the UNWFP's Kabul headquarters Saturday, Nov. 24, 2001. The UNWFP is training Afghan women to distribute food to refugees around the country. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

SOME DO, SOME DON'T, NOW
Associated Press
Two Afghan women with their faces showing walk passing women wearing Burqas in a market in Kabul Wednesday Nov. 21, 2001. Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam, women were not allowed to walk the streets with faces uncovered and without a male family member accompanying them. (AP Photo/Amir Shah)
HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO TEACH AGAIN
Associated Press
Afghan teachers and social workers remove their burqas as they leave a meeting called by Ismail Khan, the liberal warlord who took over Herat after the fall of the Taliban, at the former royal palace of Zaher Shah, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2001, in Herat, Afghanistan. The meeting was held to discuss education. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
FREE TO CHOOSE
Associated Press
Two Afghan women, their faces showing, walk behind a woman wearing a Burqa in the streets of Kabul Wednesday Nov. 21, 2001. Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam women were not allowed to walk the streets with faces uncovered and without a male family member accompanying them. (AP Photo/Amir Shah)
NAIL POLISH IS BACK IN KABUL
Reuters Photo
An Afghan woman begs for money in an eastern Kabul street November 21, 2001. A week after Northern Alliance took control of the Afghan capital and life is back to its chaotic normality. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
NOTE: Under the Taliban, these fingernails could have been pulled off because of the illegal polish and unbelievably there were only a certain number of days when widows were allowed to beg.
FREEDOM IS BEAUTIFUL
Associated Press
An Afghan widow smiles after lifting her burqa in the United Nations World Food Program bakery in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001. About 350 widows, identified as the most vulnerable group in the city, received two cans of oil and two sacks of wheat from the United States Agency for International Development. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)
ARE THE OTHERS SMILING, TOO?
Associated Press
An Afghan widow, who chose to lift her burqa, smiles at the United Nations World Food Program bakery in Kabul, Afghanistan Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001. About 350 widows, identified as the most vulnerable group in the city, received two cans of oil and two sacks of wheat from the United States Agency for International Development. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

AT THE MARCH (NYT)

Hundreds of women gathered in Kabul today to demand their rights. The Northern Alliance said they had been given no warning and postponed the march for a week. (AFP)
OFF WITH HER BURQA!
Reuters Photo
An Afghan woman removes her burka as "The General Coalition of Women" group organized a meeting of Afghan women to demonstrate for their rights November 20, 2001. Under its strict interpretation of Islam, the Taliban ordered women to hide behind head-to-toe burkas, also forbidden to work or study. [REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis]

Monday, November 19, 2001

GEE, MAYBE THE HARRY POTTER LINES WEREN'T SO BAD
Reuters Photo
Afghan men wait outside the Bakhtar cinema in central Kabul to see the first public film shown since the fall of Taliban November 19, 2001. A riot broke in front of the cinema as Afghan men fought their way in to see the Afghan movie "Urur" or "Ascension" . Military police beat back the crowd and broke-up scuffles between excited film-goers desperate to get into the 600 seat cinema. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
DIRECT TV-- AFGHAN STYLE
Reuters Photo
Afghan men walk past satellite dishes which are hand-made from old paint cans at Nadir Pashtun street in Kabul November 19, 2001. Television was banned under the Taliban's hardline Islamic regime, though a few wealthy residents took the risk of watching foreign television channels via satellite dishes. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
PETER JENNINGS, EAT YOUR HEART OUT
Associated Press
Marian Shekeba prepares to go live on Afghan television in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Nov. 19, 2001. Under Taliban rule, television was banned. Afghans saw their first night of televison on Sunday. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

PENT UP DEMAND
Associated Press
Afghans scramble to enter Kabul's only movie theater for the screening of a film in in downtown Kabul, Monday, Nov. 19, 2001. Thousands of Afghan men crammed into the theater to view an Afghan movie called "Uruj." Under the Taliban rule movies, televisions and music had been banned. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)

LOVELY
Associated Press
Nurse Arefeh Ghafouri, who is working in the children's ward in Herat hospital, listens to her friend in the 400-bed Herat hospital in Herat city Afghanistan, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2001. Ghafouri said that she hoped Afghan women could participate in voting for the next government in Afghanistan and could also take up teaching in future. (AP Photo/ Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Sunday, November 18, 2001

DON'T TELL HILLARY
Associated Press
Afghans gather to watch a bird fight in Bagram, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Afghanistan's capital Kabul, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2001. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)
WELCOME BACK, MODERNITY!
Afghan tv girl

Mariam Shakebar (L), a 16-year-old Afghan girl, welcomes back Kabul's viewers November 18, 2001 after a five-year blackout ordered by the Taliban. Wearing a stylish brown and cream headscarf, Shakebar welcomed back the capital's viewers and outlined the evening's entertainment of a reading from the Koran followed by music, cartoons, interviews and news in Dari and Pashto. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
LAST WEEK THIS WOMAN WOULD HAVE BEEN A CRIMINAL
woman at well
Children play at a well, while a woman wearing a head scarf, fills a bucket with water in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2001. Under the Taliban regime women were allowed to venture out only if wearing a burqa. (AP Photo/Amir Shah)

I'M GONNA WASH THE TALIBAN RIGHT OUT OF MY HAIR...
Reuters Photo
Afghan men enjoy a hot bath at a Haman (bathhouse) in Kabul, November 18, 2001. Under its strict interpretation of Islam, the Taliban banned bathhouses. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Friday, November 16, 2001

KITES IN KABUL!
kites
Afghan children fly a kite on the roof of a house in the old section of Kabul, Wednesday, Nov.14, 2001, a day after northern alliance troops entered the city to take control from its Taliban rulers, who fled to the south. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)

AFGHANISTAN'S ANSWER TO SOPHIA LOREN AND LA GIACONDA
Reuters Photo
Afghan women walk in central Kabul showing their faces for the first time after 5 years of Taliban Sharia law November 14, 2001. Under its strict interpretation of Islam, the Taliban ordered all women hidden behind head-to-toe burqas. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

GEE, IT'S MUCH EASIER TO DO LAUNDRY WITHOUT THAT BAG ON
Reuters Photo
Afghan women, without their burqas, wash clothes in Kabul river November 14, 2001. Under its strict interpretation of Islam, the Taliban banned music, ordered all adult men to wear a beard long enough to be clutched in a fist and women, hidden behind head-to-toe burqas, were forbidden to work or study. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)
NO MORE EXECUTIONS AT HALF TIME
Reuters Photo

Afghan men play soccer in Kabul's stadium, which was used by the Taliban for executions, November 15, 2001. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
WHERE'S THE BONFIRE?
Taking off the burqa
A woman lifts the veil on her burqa in downtown Kabul November 14, 2001 the day after Taliban forces vacated the Afghan capital. First lady Laura Bush will deliver the weekly presidential radio address on Nov. 17, using the airwaves to launch an international campaign for women's rights in Afghanistan. (Sayed Salahuddin/Reuters)

Thursday, November 15, 2001

FORBIDDEN FROM THE ZOO NO LONGERAssociated Press
An Afghan woman and her daughter, right, visit the zoo in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2001. Under the Taliban regime women were not allowed into the zoo. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)
A MATTER OF CHOICE NOW
Reuters Photo

A young Afghan woman shows her face in public for the first time after 5 years of Taliban law in Kabul November 14, 2001. The hard-line Islamic rule of Afghanistan's Taliban unraveled, as world leaders focused on a blueprint to restore peace and stability to a weary nation bloodied by two decades of civil war. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)
NO BURQUA? NO PROBLEM!Associated Press

An Afghan woman, behind, who is not wearing the usual full burqa, and two girls arrive at the playground of a Kabul, Afghanistan orphanage Thursday, Nov.15, 2001. The orphanage is home to about 350 males and 100 females. The Taliban's sudden departure from Kabul on Tuesday seemed to offer new hope and opportunity for repressed Afghan women. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)
BACK IN SCHOOL ALREADY!

Reuters Photo
Afghan schoolgirls wait in a classroom for a visit from Andrew Natsios, the director of USAID, in Khoja Bahawuddin, Afghanistan late November 15, 2001. Natsios visited the longtime Northern Alliance stronghold, 220 miles northeast of Kabul, to review projects funded by the U.S. foreign aid agency. REUTERS/Brennan Linsley-POOL
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MAN DOING?
Associated Press

An Afghan shopkeeper shows a burqa to an unidentified customer who was shopping for his wife in Kabul, northern Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2001. The Taliban's sudden departure from Kabul on Tuesday seemed to offer new hope and opportunity for repressed Afghan women. But even though some young women have said they'd like to throw the cumbersome head-to-toe covering into the fire, there have been no burqa burnings in the streets. (AP Photo/Marco Di Lauro)