KABUL: It was an innocent-looking photo.

A young woman with long brown hair tied in a ponytail walking in an upper-middle-class district of Kabul. She wore purple socklike footwear and a purple dress that fell to her knees, revealing her bare legs. In any urban area, hardly anyone would have given a second glance at the woman. But this is Afghanistan, and the woman might as well have been a purple alien dropped down from Mars.

Bare legs? Scandalous!

Whoever shot the photo soon posted it on Facebook and other social media. And the image went viral, widely shared by hundreds of Afghans across the country and overseas. These remarks on Facebook spoke volumes about today’s Afghanistan.

“It is absolutely shameful situation,” wrote Hajar Ahmadi.

Masoud Khan Selab posted two photos of the girl and wrote: “I am not surprised. In our Afghan society everything is possible — three-year-old baby girl has been raped, girls are being missing and founded raped. Families cannot complain about it because prostitution houses are operating freely. . .”

It’s hard to imagine that during the 1960s and 1970s, many Afghan women would walk around Kabul in miniskirts. In fact, they were allowed to vote in 1919, one year before women in the United States were given the right to vote. And in the 1960s, a new constitution ushered in equal rights for women in many areas, including participation in politics.

But women’s rights began to be trampled during the Soviet occupation and wars of the late 1970s and 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regime of Mohammad Najibullah, women were required to wear head scarfs.

When the Taliban movement seized power in 1996, women’s rights were completely rolled back. Women were banned from attending school, working, even leaving their homes without a male escort. Women were forced to wear head-to-toe coverings called burqas and prevented from engaging in politics or speaking publicly.

In the 13 years since the Taliban was ousted from power by the US-led intervention, the position of women has significantly improved.

More girls are getting education, more women are working. In 2003, a new constitution enshrined women’s rights.

To be sure, women in most parts of the country remain objects of abuse and discrimination.

Domestic and sexual violence against girls and women is widespread. Only three years ago, Afghanistan was branded the most dangerous country to be a woman.

Today, however, it is quite rare in Kabul to see women in burqas. In fact, it’s quite common to see modern Afghan women wearing fashionable attire, though virtually all wear headscarves.

Still, as the Facebook posts reveal, attitudes toward women remain ultra-conservative even in this cosmopolitan capital.

“A half-naked girl walking in the middle of local people!!! Where is the Islamic government,” wrote Zahir Alokozai.

“Our Islamic government is sleeping. They are not awakened yet,” wrote Rameen Hamdard.

By arrangement with The Washington Post

Published in Dawn December 8th , 2014