One of the most controversial changes was the legalisation of rape within marriage as well giving Shia men the right to deny their wife food should they refuse to 'give in' to his sexual demands - this is yet another clear indication of the oppression that Afghan women suffer in their day to day lives. Many people may argue that these women should simply leave their marriages, but if the risk of being left alone and destitute wasn't enough, Sharia law also states that a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man's. In simple terms, this means that in Afghan divorce cases parental custody will almost always be awarded to the father or grandfather; Afghan women are therefore further entrapped through fear of losing their children.
The plight of Afghan women has been explored on a number of different platforms, not least in the reams of literature that has appeared during the ongoing struggle. One of the most well-known novels based on the subject is “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, which delves deeply into the darkest areas of women’s lives in Afghanistan. However, whilst these stories often have a happy ending, the sad fact for many Afghan women is that the nightmare of their reality is