From the archive record
Afghan women crowd together in their various light to dark shades of blue burkhas, overseen by armed Taliban forces. They are standing in queue awaiting wheat and atta /flour rations to take home. The Talib men stand around with semi-automatic rifles on their shoulders. How will the Taliban treat women now? Women of Afghanistan in blue shrouds or burqas / burkha wait in queue to get grain for household consumption. Afghanistan is a country of approximately 23 million which, after three years of severe drought, 23 years of war and devastation and five years under the Taliban authorities, has been left as one of the poorest countries in the world. Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Even before the Taliban came to power, Afghanistan had high maternal and