A couple of indications of what a long way there is to go in Afghanistan. First off, the news from last week about the government caving in to conservative pressure on the issue of women's shelters:
The struggle for human rights in Afghanistan received an alarming setback when the Afghan government announced that it will take over all women’s shelters in the country within weeks. Activists are outraged and see the takeover as an attempt to shut down the few places women find protection from violent families and forced marriages.
Conservative politicians and media personalities have long railed against Afghanistan’s few women’s shelters and demanded that the facilities be closed. Two years ago, the government appointed a hard-line mullah to lead a commission to investigate shelters and recommend reforms. Then, in 2010, right wing talk show host Nasto Nadiri escalated the campaign against women’s shelters by running a series of fake reports on shelters in Kabul. Nadiri alleged that the shelters were controlled by foreigners and used as brothels. Despite lacking evidence, the bombastic pundit’s claims further riled conservatives and influenced the investigatory commission. (One member of the shelter commission later told the Scotsman, “Of course, if a shelter is working under control of foreigners, without the police or the government’s knowledge, then the women will be prostitutes.”) Human rights activists worried a crackdown was imminent.
Now, the shelter commission’s verdict is in. The government will seize all women’s shelters countrywide and place them under the control of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the police. Women and girls seeking protection will have to plead their cases before an admissions panel of government employees and undergo medically dubious “examinations” to prove they are not guilty of adultery or prostitution. If a woman passes both tests and is admitted, she will not be allowed to leave without official permission. In effect, Afghanistan’s few refuges for abused women are about to become prisons.
More from Human Rights Watch. Go here to sign the petition to save the shelters.
And, from the Washington Post, an indication of just where this kind of "conservative pressure" originates:
For the U.S. government, and for the 100,000 American troops fighting in Afghanistan, the messages delivered last Friday could hardly have been worse.
Under the weathered blue dome of Kabul's largest mosque, a distinguished preacher, Enayatullah Balegh, pledged support for "any plan that can defeat" foreign military forces in Afghanistan, denouncing what he called "the political power of these children of Jews."
Across town, a firebrand imam named Habibullah was even more blunt.
"Let these jackals leave this country," the preacher, who uses only one name, declared of foreign troops. "Let these brothers of monkeys, gorillas and pigs leave this country. The people of Afghanistan should determine their own fate."
Every Friday, Afghan clerics wade into the politics of their war-torn country, delivering half-hour sermons that blend Islamic teaching with often-harsh criticism of the U.S. presence. In a country where many lack newspapers, television or Internet access, the mosque lectures represent a powerful forum for influencing opinion….
Because the Taliban is led by mullahs and seeks followers in part by casting itself as a defender of Islam, other religious leaders in Afghanistan must take the group's views into account. Several said that the Taliban's orthodox interpretation of Islam has flaws and that its reliance on funding and support from Pakistan further discredits the organization. But their arguments against the presence of foreign forces are more categorical….
A sense of religious conflict also underlies the criticism. The reason that the insurgency has grown so strong in recent years, said Abdul Bashir Hafif, an imam at a private mosque in a wealthy Kabul neighborhood, is that "Americans are considered to be Christians and Jews."
Mick Hartley 
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