Afghanistan: 'The small advances women have made are now being wiped out'

Another Taliban "night letter" left at a nearby school warned: "Respected Afghans: Leave the culture and traditions of the Christians and Jews. Do not send your girls to school." Otherwise, it said, the mujahedin of the Islamic Emirates, the name of the former Taliban government, "will conduct their robust military operations in the daylight".

The rapid rolling back of Afghan women and children's rights cannot only be blamed on the Taliban. There is a strong undercurrent in the government of Hamid Karzai that women's rights are not worth fighting for.

Safia Amajan, who was murdered yesterday, had already asked for protection, and been denied it, after receiving threats last autumn. An easy target, she leaves a 17-year-old son and a paralysed husband.

Her colleagues in her Kandahar office for women's issues were transfixed with fear yesterday when they were visited by human rights monitors. But they too were not surprised by the outcome. Two years ago, the governor of Kandahar province told Amnesty International: "At the moment, there are more pressing issues... a civil servant has too much on his mind to deal with women's rights. It's a matter of priorities."

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