Afghan People In Helmand Province Get Frustrated Due To Widespread Insecurity

In this Oct. 22, 2012 photo, Afghan men gather at a local police station trying to get permission to gather for a demonstration in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afganistan. In southern Helmand province, one of Afghanistans deadliest battlefields, angry residents say 11 years of war has brought them widespread insecurity. Development that was promised hasn’t materialized and the Talibans rule is often said to be preferred.

In this Oct. 23, 2012 photo, Afghan women shop in a crowded bazaar in the heart of Lashkar Gah, southern Helmands provincial capital in Afghanistan. After 11 years of war residents of southern Helmand, one of the deadliest battlefields, are frustrated by the lack of development and widespread insecurity. The International community is also increasingly worried that the gains made by women after the collapse of the Taliban are slowly slipping away. In deeply conservative Helmand women have worn the all encompassing burqas for centuries yet they too say the increasing insecurity makes them afraid even from behind their veils and shopkeepers say burqa sales are up.

In this Oct. 23, 2012 photo, Afghan girls share a joke in the center of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan. A report by the British Parliaments International Development Committee says that even the gains made by women after the Taliban were ousted were slipping, citing a recent statement by Afghan President Karzai, instructing women to travel only when chaperoned by a man and to refrain from mixing with men in education and at work. <AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus>