No longer behind closed doors: violence against women.

• Author: Kamal, Sarah

Leila serves me steaming tea and reassures the baby on her lap. Her everyday actions jar with her life circumstances: she is in protective custody, a survivor of one of the most extreme domestic abuse cases being overseen by Afghanistan's post-Taliban Government.

Five years ago, Leila was kidnapped, smuggled to a remote village and forced to marry. Helpless, her children were held at gunpoint to ensure her compliance, while her former husband was miles away. Her new husband, a powerful military leader, was renowned for his cruelty, often taking home victim's fingers and toes as trophies of his victories. Leila, along with her husband's other wives, endured beatings and forced sex until two incidents catalyzed her decision to flee. She witnessed his battering with an AK-47 and raping his own daughter. He later shot and killed the mother of the assaulted girl for refusing to serve him tea. "He just shot her--just like that, like she was nothing," Leila recounts, her eyes glazing into a shell shock. "They buried her the same day. Then that night he made us serve him dinner right there, right where her body had been."

There are no reliable statistics, but from testimonies of survivors of domestic violence, there are indications that violence against women in Afghanistan operates in a dimension of its own. The impunity of armed groups, the culture of permissiveness and inadequate judicial system in Afghanistan contribute towards markedly severe and prolonged cases of spousal battery and sexual assault.

According to Tonita Murray, Senior Police and Gender Advisor at the Ministry of Interior, only around 180, or 0.3 per cent, of Afghanistan's 53,000 strong police force are women, giving police stations limited options for offering women appropriate support services in the highly conservative country. Nor do legal authorities generally intervene in domestic disputes, as spousal battery is considered a personal matter to be dealt with through family networks. To exacerbate matters, 80 per cent of the rural population often inhabit areas too remote or insecure to allow law enforcement officials to investigate violent crime.

Leila's escape from her husband had succeeded through desperation and luck. She waited until she was sure he had left for a week-long journey, and then fled into the hills with two children in her arms, walking for 24 hours through snow to reach a nearby settlement. From there, she was delivered to her family in Mazar-e-Sharif...