The position of women in Afghanistan has hardly improved in the eight years since the war began, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. After three years, the issue of women's rights is still an elusive problem for the Dutch army and the civil leadership in Uruzgan.

A patrol made up of exclusively female soldiers is the Dutch army’s latest idea to improve contact with Afghan women. The patrol went to Chora in northern Uruzgan, where the Dutch want to create a women-only park, so Afghan women can meet without being disturbed. It is supposed to be finished in March. The US troops joke: "It is the graveyard where the women go to pay their respects to their dead and you mustn’t disturb them there," they say. The Dutch say this place – called Cemetery Hill - is one of the few places in Chora where women can go to meet one another and talk.

Not in public
Michel Rentenaar, civil leader of the Netherlands Task Force in Uruzgan, is proud of the initiative and wants these kind of patrols to take place more often. But he can also see how difficult it is to reach oppressed women. They are hardly ever seen in public and mainly spend their time behind the high mud walls of Afghan houses.

"Just sending female troops on patrol is not going to achieve much. The women are still soldiers and uniforms make contact difficult. Unfortunately, they are still necessary in Uruzgan." After three years, it is just a first step, Rentenaar says, "you can’t change things with just a chat. It doesn’t solve anything."

 
Fruit trees 
Meanwhile, the Dutch have implemented other small-scale projects for women. By planting fruit trees behind the high walls of Afghan homes, they hope the women will be able to earn a little money. In the western town of Deh Rawod, the women meet regularly and two were elected into the provincial council for the first time in the last election, although the council does not have a lot of power.
 
There are examples of terrible abuses of women in Uruzgan, just as there are in other parts of Afghanistan. One account from Tarin Kowt tells of a woman who called for help over the local radio to prevent her husband from beating her. He killed her straight away. In another recent case a women visited US soldiers: her nose and ears had been cut off by her husband, because she was unable to become pregnant. The United Nations office in Tarin Kowt says she was flown to the United States for treatment.
                 
Lip service
Human Rights Watch has severely criticised efforts by the international community, calling Western plans to emancipate women after driving out the Taliban “lip service”. Asked whether the position of women in Uruzgan has improved, Michael Rentenaar can’t say it has.
 
"The Netherlands knows too little about it." The diplomat stresses how very conservative society is in Afghanistan, where it is difficult to approach women in a male-dominated world. "And that makes it difficult to make headway. The attention is primarily on security. Reconstruction is a gradual process, I cannot say whether the situation used to be better than now. I can only see what we can do to improve it."

Photo: Afghan women going to vote in the 2009 poll - bbcworldservice at Flickr