Women are essentially under house arrest in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, a fundamentalist Islamic group that runs most of the country, has issued edict after edict keeping women and girls from studying, working, receiving medical care and even leaving their homes. International organizations and private relief groups want to help women, but to get permission they need to compromise with the Taliban. The question of how far to go has no good answer, but an agreement the United Nations signed recently is a terrible mistake. The U.N. decided a written agreement was necessary after it had to stop all but emergency work in Afghanistan in March. The problem was Taliban restrictions, especially one forcing all Islamic women aid workers to be accompanied by a father, brother or husband when in public.