Hours into voting, Kabul’s voters are trickling in. The mood is very different from the presidential vote in 2004, which was the first election after the 2001 fall of the Taliban.

“In 2004, Afghans thought the decades of war were over,” says FRANCE 24’s Leela Jacinto, reporting from the Afghan capital. “In 2009, we know that this war is going to continue.”

Quite a few women in particular say they will vote for incumbent President Hamid Karzai, despite his diminishing popularity over the past few months.

“A number of women told me that it was Hamid Karzai who brought peace to Afghanistan, that he has experience, and they’re going to go with him again,” Jacinto said.

Reporter's notebook From Panjshir to Kabul, in testosterone zone D-Day dawns Eerie calm precedes day of reckoning The tigers are in town Chasing Bashardost Welcome to Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel

Five million women, of a total electorate of 17 million, registered to vote for the August 20 presidential and provincial elections. Men and women vote separately, in part to ensure the women do not come under pressure and can cast their vote freely for the candidate of their choice. But of the 41 presidential candidates, only two of them are women. And of the 3,196 candidates vying for seats on provincial councils, just 328 women are running.

There has been undeniable progress since the 2001 fall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime, when teaching girls to read was a punishable offense. But even today, only 20 percent of those seeking higher education at Afghan universities are women.

And while those fortunate enough to live in large cities like Kabul have a degree of relative autonomy, their rural sisters – who make up the vast majority of Afghanistan’s women – are not so fortunate. Most still live subject to tribal practices and under the thumb of the Taliban, who still hold considerable sway in several Afghan regions, notably near the southern city of Kandahar, the heart of Taliban country. Provincial deputy Sitara Achikzai, a tireless campaigner for greater women’s rights, was assassinated in Kandahar by Taliban militants on April 12.

Retrograde legislation

A family law approved by President Hamid Karzai that came into effect late last month has highlighted the long struggle ahead for Afghanistan’s women’s rights campaigners.

Designed for the nation’s Shia minority, the law allows men to deprive their wives of food or money if they do not concede to their husbands’ sexual desires. It also condones sexual relations within marriage that are initiated without the woman’s consent, a provision that critics say essentially justifies marital rape.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday that the legislation is not in line with the human rights agreements to which Afghanistan is a signatory and may violate Afghanistan’s own constitution, which guarantees equal rights regardless of gender. “The new law falls well short of the standards set by these treaties,” said Rupert Colville, a UN spokesman.

By Yuka ROYER A family law governing the Shia minority that came into effect in July has sparked a public outcry, both within Afghanistan's borders and beyond (19/08/2009).

Originally signed by Karzai in March, the law met with intense international criticism and Afghan women – many shrouded in burkas but waving placards – took to the streets.

US President Barack Obama called the law “abhorrent” and said his administration would object to the law.

But Karzai insists Western criticism of the law is likely based on a misinterpretation of its provisions.

“We understand the concerns of our allies and the international community,” he told journalists in Kabul. “Those concerns may be due to an inappropriate … translation of the law or misinterpretation.”