Mehdi Chebil of France 24 has written an article quoting from an interview with Malalai Joya. The headline, "Abuse of women on the rise since start of war, claim critics", is derived not from credible scholarly research, interviews with women's shelters, or any other source one might expect such a claim to come from. The "critics" part is also misleading, as there seems to be only one. Rather, the sensationalist headline comes from a single statement made by Malalai Joya, the ousted Afghan MP and stoppist aligned with Canadian anti-war organizations: {C}

“During the Taliban’s regime such atrocities weren’t as rife as it is now and the graph is hiking each day."

The problem with this statement is that it is merely that, one person's statement with absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back it up.

Because there were no studies undertaken during the Taliban's regime on the statistical rates of violence against women, there is no data from that period that could prove that violence against women is better or worse now. Since 2002, the very first instances of research on the impact of domestic abuse, rape and other forms of violence against women have occurred, such...More >>