Human rights groups are up in arms about Afghan President Karzai's very public support this week for a crackdown on womens' rights in his country.
The move by the Afghanistan government, which curiously coincided with International Women's Day, has dismayed many who have applauded the advancement of women in Afghanistan in the years since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001 which toppled the Taliban.
The head of the Save the Children Fund Jasmine Whitbread (pictured) says she is "gravely concerned" over the muted response about the Karzai government's stance.
The edict by the Ulema Council requires women to wear traditional Islamic hijab dress and not take any prominent place in society. Women should not travel without a male chaperone, nor should they mix with men in places of education, the workplace, or in public. Women should be treated as secondary to men, the edict says.
The hard-won gains of recent years may well be lost as these new "values" are brought in.
"A decade ago not a single formal girls' school in Afghanistan was functioning; now over 2.5 million girls are in school," Whitbread says.
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