Not exactly, though I like your enthusiasm. The locations where women wore mini-skirts were in the elite and academic sections of Kabul and a very small area in Kandahar. Outside of those small areas, women did NOT wear mini-skirts. Also, within the areas, there was very heavy protection from a very Western (late 60's) and Marxist USSR (70's and 80's) backed government who had the big guns. It should be noted that those practices, like women wearing mini-skirts - which the political and economic elite accommodated in the cities was one of the reasons the religious parties were gaining support form the other 95% of the population in rebellion against the government.Those parties became the Mujahadeen and took down the communist government - the mini-skirts went with it.

so, the US is to blame for the inequality in Afghanistan? I'll blame it on the Mujaheddin's ideology. The US didn't design the ideology.

Probably at home eating baklava, drinking coffee, and gossiping about how ridiculous the men are. (Source: muslim woman that enjoys eating baklava and drinking coffee after mosque)

Oh they are there, in some of the photos. But they are covered from head to toe. Which is disturbing when one thinks of photos of the same country taken in the 70's, the last time women were free to live as they chose. Actually, as a woman, I found those photos of yours to be deeply disturbing and horrifying.

"Don't want to be photographed" is no less a disturbing answer.

While I understand you couldn't photograph women, it is worth considering how surreal it is for a woman to look at this and see 'people' mentioned constantly but realise your own gender is missing. As if 'people' does not include you.

Not to make any reproach to you here (you do bring some humanity to the image of a little-known country), but one cannot forget how the very same pictures would have looked, had religious extremism not totally obliterated women from the public space in Afghan Societies. I posted such a picture above: the contrast is chilling.

They are covered from head to toe and cannot be identified waht so ever. Why they don't want to be photographed? In fear of what? Being recognized by their feet? and waht would happen to them if they were photographed?

THEY don't wan't ?! Or their husbands would simply stone her to death if they do ? Lovely contry indeed . . .

even in the crowded market place, did you see any women?

I really want to write an elaborate answer, unfortunately characters are limited. That is true, in 1970's it was much more liberal. The extremist conservative rule of the Taliban has halted all progression and turned backwards many steps. Since the Taliban is not defeated, this is still the case today. If we constantly approach this country from the negative aspects though people and governments will continue to neglect it as it is considered a 'shithole' anyway. There are many, many steps to be taken to improve the image. My first, humble, step is this, showing the daily life, that many people don't know existed. Next, I really hope to show you guys soon all the amazing initiatives and projects I learned about in more progressive parts that are making great steps in women rights. I could have addressed, like all journalists and reports from this country do, the extreme poverty, deplorable women rights and ever decreasing security situation. i feel that is not really helping though.

I admire what you're doing Thijs. I'm from Israel originally and I can appreciate how the beauty of a country (particularly from this part of the world) can become lost in translation largely due to negative media coverage. Your photos beautifully showcase humanity and reminds us there's "real people" behind the storylines, even if the current situation isn't an ideal one. Don't get dissuaded by the comments, keep doing what you're doing.

Why??

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Thank you for showing some light and coulors of a country that has suffered so much. Of course women's rights and security are a great issue there. But I understand you only wanted to show that Afghanistan is not only that but much more. How easy is to judge people! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64O8KAHHaQ

Well that is one extremely narrow minded way to look at it of course. It is attitudes like this that make it impossible for this country to develop. You assume that all Afghans are horrible which is an awful way to look at things. I've met and spoke with many local Afghans there and refugees in my country here who have very different thoughts than that we all so easily assume here. It is easy for Westerners who consider themselves superior in moral and values and believe that everybody should follow these, point out all the flaws of this country. Don't forgot that all the turmoil and misery the country is in that turned back all developments, like modernization, liberalization and women rights, are for an extremely large part thanks to the meddling of foreign and mostly western forces. Who had no intention of helping Afghanistan and were purely there out of own interest and now leave it in the mess they created.

Your brother and his military friends are most likely a bunch of racist a******s.

I appreciate your comment op, but my question comes from ignorance: I am aware of th western world's questionable reasons for war, and how this would have incited zealous rebellions, but how did women's freedom get so mixes up in it, for the everyday Afghan person not just the extremists?

It's most prevalent in African countries. In Somalia something like 98% of teenage girls have undergone FGM. I believe it's more of a social obligation rather than a religious requirement but it just so happens that the countries which do regularly practice FGM are Islamic.

FGM is absolutely islamic, it's obligatory under the Shafi'i school, which is followed in countries like Somalia, Egypt, Djibouti, Indonesia. All those countries have a very high percentage of mutilated women (80-98%).

It's definitely not islamic , they used to do it in Africa and they're not muslims it's simply the sick minds of the men there it got nothing to do with any kind of religion i read the whole Qur'an non of this was mentioned I've been a muslim my whole life never heard of it and never was mentioned to me or to anyone around me i only read about it in an article about a girl who died in Egypt because of the FGM, so please before you say it's a muslim practice get your facts straight it's forbidden and it's ruthless and it reflects nothing but the cruelty of menb

It's a muslim practice. It's obligatory under the Shafi'i school, which is followed in countries like Djibouti, Somalia, Egypt and Indonesia which all have very high percentage of mutilated women (80-98%)

That is right, there is no FGM in Afghanistan. These are very sensitive things and it is indeed important to get facts straight before talking about stuff like this.

It's utterly heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing the link.

Khadija's story is not unique. And more women are deliberately set on fire by their husbands, their in-laws, and sometimes even their own relatives, than commit or try to commit suicide. The status of women in fundamentalist Islamic countries is worse than slavery. These cultures are not living in the 21st or even the 20th century. And change must come from within. Education for all is the key.

Thank Zebwe. And yes it is horrific.

Isolating the country more and more from the world would have the exact opposite effect. Yes I know the women rights are deplorable in the country. It is however unrealistic to expect this to be on par of other countries since the Taliban imposed this, and since the Taliban are still not defeated and control more than half of the country. Even after 19 years of warfare in the most expensive war of America. Unfortunately there is some really nasty politics going on concerning Afghanistan, people operating purely out of their own interest. Making it incredibly difficult for fields such as women rights to improve. It is wrong to give the whole country a label of rapists and women abusers. I spoke to many Afghans who are dreaming of going back to the situation in the 70's and the 80's. Progress is slow, but there are some great initiatives going on in more progressive parts of the country, improving women rights. In a next step of this project I really hope to show this soon.

Thijs, re-reading my comment above, I now realise that I could have phrased things in a more balanced way. The criticism I formulated remains relevant, but one should at least recognise that your attempt at changing people's look on Afghanistan was definitely well intended and certainly legit to a point. I believe however that you underestimated the feeling of violence and unease that your photographs truly convey, with their depiction of a seemingly male-only country. As a visitor, you probably came back with memories of a more balanced situation, with women present in public spaces alongside men (obviously with many restrictions, though). But you must understand that this is NOT the story that your photographs tell, here. And even though they may indeed present a biased vision of the country, the "technical" impossibility to capture images of women is a powerful and chilling symptom in itself. I believe that not even mentioning it in your introductory text was a mistake.

But how did women's rights get rewound so drastically? Your photos show it is a general attitude, not an extremist only one...

This is not what I'm doing, I'm not saying it lives in perfect happiness. I'm trying to show a different side of the country than that of absolutely misery and devastation. There are many steps to be taken in this process, which I cannot address all at once. My first step is showing this daily life. Next would be to cover some of the amazing initiatives I've learned about in more progressive parts of the country that are improving access of education for girls for example and officials trying to teach correct interpretations of religion, that are informing people that wearing the burqa is not a requirement by law nor is it required by Islam. If we keep on approaching the country from a negative aspect, it will be more isolated and neglected, considered a hellhole and not improving anything at all. Also keep in mind that the country is behind many many years in development compared to other countries in the world due to the wars.