A Precarious Shelter in Afghanistan

New Refuges for Women Face Permanent Danger of Attack

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 5, 2006; A01

KABUL -- The room was carpeted and cozy, warm from the wood stove and filled with the chatter of children. But the tales their mothers and older sisters told recently, speaking hesitantly even in the safety of a guarded private shelter, were bone-chilling.

Sahara, an angelic-looking young woman, said she was forcibly married at 11, widowed at 12 and kept as a virtual slave by her in-laws for the next eight years. Unable to endure more beatings, she slipped away early one morning, walked for two days and nights and finally ventured into a police station to ask for help >>>cont

LinkHere