A first for Afghan women: the governor

It is not a job for the faint hearted. Afghan governors are stereotypically gruff, bearded men with a penchant for fighting, sweet tea and smoke-filled-room politics. Ms Sarobi, a mild-mannered mother, comes to work with a suitcase and her secretary.

Formerly the minister for women’s affairs, she said she had turned down an ambassadorial job to demand the governor’s post from President Hamid Karzai.
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In Bamiyan, Ms Sarobi’s popularity stems from a solid political pedigree (her uncle is a former vice-president) and partly from the liberalism of her fellow Hazara, one of Afghanistan’s more tolerant tribes.
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After the Taliban seized power in 1996, she fled to Pakistan so her daughter could continue school. She also detested the obligatory burka, but found the ankle-length cloak a useful disguise when, years later, she slipped back across the border to establish a clandestine network of girls’ schools.

The bad news…

Last week a woman in Badakhshan was stoned to death for adultery, the second such killing since the Taliban’s overthrow in 2001.

John made us aware of this alarming trend:

The Afghan government is expressing concern over the growing number of women in Herat Province who have killed themselves through self-immolation. Suraya Sobah Rang, Afghanistan’s deputy women’s affairs minister, says forced marriages and a continued lack of access to education is contributing to the growing despair among Herat’s women.

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