'Threat' to Afghan women's rights, say UK charities

Action Aid said there was still a lot of work to be done to improve women's lives in Afghanistan

Women's rights in Afghanistan are under threat after 10 years of progress, two leading British aid agencies have said.

Oxfam and Action Aid said many Afghan women were worried that improvements could be sacrificed to secure a political deal with the Taliban.
An Action Aid survey of 1,000 Afghan women found that 86% were worried about a return to a Taliban-style government.
Action Aid said "huge challenges" remained in Afghanistan, with many women still denied basic rights.
Felt safer The charity found that 72% of those surveyed felt that things had improved for them since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.
But 37% feared their country would become a worse place following the departure of international troops.
Two-thirds of Afghan women said they felt safer now than they did 10 years ago.
Action Aid said that under Taliban rule women and girls were not allowed to go to work or school, access to healthcare was difficult and they could not leave the house without a male relative.
The charity said progress had been made in the past decade but added that there was still a lot more to be done to improve women's lives.
'Significant achievements' An Action Aid report said: "Women are free to be educated and to work. They serve as government ministers and MPs and work as doctors, teachers, professors, entrepreneurs and lawyers.
"These are significant achievements. However, huge challenges remain, with many women still denied basic rights.
"Action Aid believes that including women in the peace, reconciliation and transition processes is the best means of safeguarding and furthering women's hard-won civil freedoms and human rights."
The survey commissioned by Action Aid polled 1,000 women in the provinces of Kabul, Balkh, Kandahar, Herat and Bamiyan.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said that 10 years ago improving the rights of women in Afghanistan was seen as one of the goals of outside intervention.
Oxfam and Action Aid said there had been real progress since then, in girls' education, better health care, more women in work and a new constitution that enshrined equal rights for women.
But the charities warned that these fragile advances were already under threat from worsening security in Afghanistan and a resurgent Taliban, our correspondent said.
Both organisations are using the 10-year anniversary to appeal to the British government to make sure that women's rights do not end up traded away in any future peace deal with the Taliban.