Afghanistan has always been a place of violence. The western world tried to gain control over Afghanistan, and surrounding countries because it offered excellent trade routes, two of those countries being Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R. Both countries struggled for a stronghold, but both were ineffective, and ended up causing many wars in and among the Afghanistan borders. If it wasn't the western cultures fighting over the land, it was internal fighting, fighting for power. The rule went to one foreign controller after another, until Afghanistan got it's own king. In 1919 saw the ruling of King Amanullah, who moved towards the modernization of Afghanistan.

King Amanullah, reigned from 1919-1929.

King Amanullah pushed for more western wear, letting the women wear less confining clothing, and declared all citizens equal. The more conservative Afghani's rebelled against this modernization, and in 1929, King Amanullah was killed. From then, until 1933 with King Nadir Shah, a more subtle form of modernization was in effect, until he too, was killed, only this time, by assasination. 1933 on, saw a disinclination towards human rights, and Afghanistan was full of fighting, the country split into little pockets of militia, each fighting the other, and the government. The government was unable to control much of anything outside the capital Kabul, and as a result, Kabul its self was taken from them, by a group of extreme Islamist students; the Taleban.

The status of women's rights has never been high on anyone's list, and it only got worse when the Taleban gained control of the country in 1996.