lifestyle & education

Some Afghans live a traditional nomadic life, but most are settled farmers. A typical meal in is round flat bread and rice with mutton, goat meat, chicken, yogurt and fruit. Food is eaten with the hands, but never with the left hand.

Traditional clothing, which includes baggy cotton trousers, is common for both men and women. Afghan men wear long cotton shirts that hang over their trousers with wide sashes around their waist. Afghan women will wear a long loose shirt with a skirt over a pair of trousers. Some women wear a burka which covers them from head to foot, hiding their face behind a mesh screen.

Wearing the burka is part of ancient custom of purdah, which requires that women are covered when outside the home. The Taliban enforced a strict dress code requiring all women to wear a burka in public. After the fall of the Taliban women continue to wear it in some places as a requirement imposed by local mullahs, (religious men).

Many women living in rural Afghanistan, typically a much more traditional area and a support base for the Taliban, still wear the burqa in order to stay safe. Women are also slowly returning to work and education, but there have been attacks on women who do. Women have had acid thrown in their face for daring to shed the burqa and go to school or work. Even schools have been targeted by militants.

Education was supervised by religious leaders under the Taliban. Boys learned to read and write the language of the Qur’an, but did not learn maths, history or science. Girls were not allowed to attend school past the age of 8. When the Taliban fell, both boys and girls returned to traditional schooling.

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, more children are enrolled in primary school. Now, more than 5 million students are enrolled, but still more boys than girls. 60% of Afghan girls receive no education. The literacy rate in 2004 for men was 49%, for women it was 19%.