Sanctioned Mass Atrocities: Women in Afghanistan

Abstract

Violence comes in three forms in Afghanistan. They are not equally conspicuous, but they can be equally deadly. The first is rocket and gunfire violence. The second is the violence of vendetta, which may simmer under the surface in nominal peace, only to flare anew now and then over the course of generations. The third is a silent violence, like that of strangulation, and it hangs over the heads of the people like a heavy, stifling curtain. (See figure 1.2.)