Violence against Afghan women more frequent, brutal in 2013: official --- (Reuters) - Violent crime against women in Afghanistan hit record levels and became increasingly brutal in 2013, the head of the country's human rights commission said on Saturday, a sign that hard won rights are being rolled back as foreign troops prepare to withdraw. -- Restoring women's rights after the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition of troops in 2001 was cited as one of the main objectives of the war. -- Under Taliban rule, women were required to wear the head-to-toe covering burqa and barred from leaving their homes without being escorted by a male relative. Schools for girls were shut down. -- "Killing women in Afghanistan is an easy thing. There's no punishment," Suraya Pakzad, who runs women's shelters in several provinces, told Reuters in her office in the western city of Herat. -- She cited recent cases in which women had been publicly stoned as Afghan troops looked on. -- "Laws are improved, but implementation of those laws are in the hands of warlords... I think we are going backwards." - More, at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/04/us-afghanistan-women-idUSBREA030A620140104