ABSTRACT
A key government department established to promote gender equality and women's human rights, namely, the Ministry of Women's Affairs, has worked closely with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The Ministry has pursued five strategic areas of operation, namely, legal services and advocacy; education; vocational training; women's health and communication; and planning and international relations. The two exhibitions captured for the author the essence of Afghanistan in the global imagination. On the one hand, Afghanistan is a country that conjures up images of a vast exotic cultural past, and on the other, it is a country at war with itself, ravaged by decades of violence and seeming anarchy. In the United Nations Human Development Report, Afghanistan ranks 173rd out of 177 countries in terms of development, and as the 3rd poorest country in the world.
