Nato shouldn’t abandon Afghanistan’s women --- As Nato representatives gather in Wales for a summit on 4 and 5 September, Afghanistan’s latest crisis looms large, and the people with the most to lose are Afghan women. -- A presidential election marred by allegations of massive fraud and a painfully contested vote audit process has prompted saber-rattling by the electoral rivals, with the potential for a new eruption of violence when a winner is declared. -- Nato states are acutely aware that foreign combat troops are to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year, and that the long-debated issue of any follow-on Nato and US military mission remains unresolved. --- Thirteen years of Nato involvement in Afghanistan has Nato states exhausted and eying the exit. Revelations that the US government’s expenditure on rebuilding Afghanistan has exceeded what it spent on the Marshall Plan after WWII has added to disillusionment about continued involvement by Nato countries. -- Meanwhile, Afghanistan is just one of numerous crises Nato is wrestling with, from Ukraine to Syria, Iraq to South Sudan. -- But in this bleak situation, Afghan women have the most to lose if Nato countries turn their backs on Afghanistan. -- For all the failings of international intervention in Afghanistan since 2001, it is unquestionably true that the situation for women has improved. -- In 2001, Afghan women had virtually no ability to study or work or control their own lives. Today millions of Afghan girls go to school, millions of women work, a new law makes violence against women a crime, and there are female members of parliament, judges, police officers, soldiers and civil servants. --- International involvement in Afghanistan has created space for these women to demand their rights. Foreign-donor political pressure encouraged the Afghan government to pay more than just lip-service to women’s rights. -- That same donor pressure helped pave the way for meaningful steps including the passage of the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the inclusion of women in the police force, and the creation of shelters for women fleeing violence. -- The conclusion of Nato's combat mission in Afghanistan this year should not signal the end of international efforts to bolster women’s rights in the country. Giving up on Afghanistan now will condemn Afghan women to a steady erosion of the rights that they have laid their lives on the line to achieve. - Read More, http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/03/nato-shouldn-t-abandon-afghanistan-s-women