Video of a barbaric execution of an Afghan woman accused of adultery is a stark reminder of why Australia must work with the war-ravaged country to protect the rights of women and girls, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.

Footage of the public shooting surfaced as Senator Carr was meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a conference in Tokyo to discuss the future of Afghanistan. It also coincided with Senator Carr’s announcement that Australia would pledge $1 billion in aid to the country over four years – including $17.7 million to reducing domestic and community violence against women in Afghanistan.

“(It is) a barbaric attack on a defenceless woman and another stark reminder of the brutalities that were regularly committed under Taliban rule, and of the task ahead of us in advancing the rights of Afghani women and girls,” Senator Carr said in a statement on Monday. “This is precisely why we’re working with the Afghan national government to build a sovereign, forward-looking Afghanistan with a constitution that protects the rights of women and girls.”

The video, which was shot last month, shows a 22-year-old woman shot repeatedly in the back in front of a crowd of men in Qol village in Parwan province, just north of the capital of Kabul. The woman, named as Najiba, was married to a member of a hardline Taliban militant group and was accused of adultery with a Taliban commander, Parwan provincial spokeswoman Roshna Khalid told AFP on Sunday. Mr Hague on Sunday said he was “shocked and disgusted” by reports of the video, and called upon Afghanistan’s rulers to bring the perpetrators to justice.

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“Such deplorable actions underline the vital need for better protection of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan,” he said in a statement.
Senator Clinton has also made a powerful plea for the rights of women in the war-ravaged nation. The $17.7 million from Australia will be spent on changing community attitudes and reducing the incident of retribution attacks on females who participate in civil or political life, Senator Carr said.

“The challenges facing Afghan women under the Taliban cannot be understated,” he said. “This was one of the worst countries in the world to be born female. Under the Taliban there were no female students in schools, and barely one in ten women could read. “We’ve made strong gains … but there’s more to be done, especially in reducing domestic violence.”
Money will be spent on supporting women’s shelters, legal aid and employment opportunities, he added.

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