KABUL, Dec 26: In a sign of the changing times in Afghanistan, the first magazine for women in nearly 10 years has hit the shelves of the war-ravaged country.

“Seerat” (Attitude) does not look like a standard glossy magazine. Crudely churned out on an old fashioned printing machine it features a picture of a woman being pulled along by a rope.

“We call on women to claim back their rights and to express themselves on an artistic level or by writing,” said the 38-year-old Mari.

Employed by the ministry of information, she is one of three journalists behind the project in a country where independent newspapers do not exist.

“We want to work for a youth that aspires to other things,” said Djamila Omar, a younger member of the trio.

The three women are funding the weekly magazine out of their own pockets. All they have asked is that the ministry, which reads it for censorship, does not change any of the articles,

Five hundred copies of Seerat, which costs 2,000 afghanis (10 cents), are being distributed by its authors to colleges, bookshops and other institutions.

Women’s magazines disappeared from Afghanistan in 1992 with the fall of the post-Soviet communist government and the closure of the monthly magazine “Mermon” (Woman).

“The gates of hope are opening,” reads Seerat’s main headline, rejoicing in the beginning of the reopening of schools for girls.

During the five years when the Taliban ruled Kabul before being routed by opposition forces last month, all females were banned from attending school.

Mari, however, gave classes secretly, something that could have brought her harsh punishment had she been caught.

A former teacher recounts the hardships under the Taliban. “The regime destroyed the rights of orphans and women,” says the article which makes reference to sayings of the Holy Prophet Mohammed.

An article provocatively entitled “With or without the chador?” raises the emotive issue of whether or not women should wear the shawl that covers their head and upper body. One woman interviewed said they must abandon wearing it.

“We must initiate the movement. If a minority does not dare, the majority will never follow,” says Mari.—AFP