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Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
Female prisoners gather in the courtyard of a women's prison in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, on Oct. 22, 2010.
Updated at 6:18 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- For Afghan women, the act of fleeing domestic abuse or forced prostitution may land them in jail while their abusers walk free, Human Rights Watch said in a report published Wednesday.
Running away is considered a "moral crime" for women in Afghanistan while some rape victims are also imprisoned, because sex outside marriage -- even when the woman is forced -- is considered adultery, another "moral crime."
"From the first time I came to this world my destiny was destroyed," 17-year-old Amina, who has spent months in jail after being forced into prostitution, told researchers from Human Rights Watch.
Despite progress in women's rights and freedom since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago, women throughout the country are at risk of abduction, rape, forced marriage and being traded as commodities.
PhotoBlog: Afghan graffiti artists depict violence and injustice of women's lives
It can be hard for women to escape violence at home because of huge social pressure and legal risks to stay in marriages.
"The treatment of women and girls accused of 'moral crimes' is a black eye on the face of the post-Taliban Afghan government and its international backers, all of whom promised that respect for women's rights would distinguish the new government from the Taliban," the New York-based group said.
"This situation has been further undermined by President (Hamid) Karzai's frequently changing position on women's rights. Unwilling or unable to take a consistent line against conservative forces within the country, he has often made compromises that have negatively impacted women's rights."
Teen boxer Sadaf Rahimi, who aims to compete at this summer's London Olympics, hopes her achievements will be an example to others in her war-ravaged country. NBC News' Kiko Itasaka reports.
The rights organization said that there were about 400 women and girls being held in Afghanistan for "moral crimes", and they rarely found support from authorities in a "dysfunctional criminal justice system".
'He will kill me'
The plight of a woman called Nilofar illustrates the problem. She was stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver in the head, chest, and arms by her husband who accused her of adultery for inviting a man into the house, the rights group said.
But afterwards, she was arrested, he was not.
Afghan woman, imprisoned over rape, is free
"The way he beat her wasn't bad enough to keep him in jail. She wasn't near death, so he didn't need to be in prison," the prosecutor of the case told Human Rights Watch.
The dire treatment of women was the main reason Western countries gave for refusing to recognize the Taliban government as legitimate when it was in power.
As Afghan and Western leaders seek a negotiated end to more than 10 years of war, the future for women is uncertain.
The United States and NATO -- who are fighting an unpopular war as they prepare to pull out most combat troops by the end of 2014 -- have stressed that any settlement must ensure the constitution, which says the two sexes are equal, is upheld.
Jangir / AFP - Getty Images
More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
A law, passed in August 2009, supports equality for women, including criminalizing child and forced marriage, selling and buying women for marriage or for settling disputes, as well as forced self-immolation, among other acts.
PhotoBlog: Life inside a women's prison in Afghanistan
But women, especially in rural areas, lack shelters to flee abuse while only one percent of police are female, according to the report based on interviews from October to November with 58 women and girls as well as prosecutors, judges, government officials and civil society.
Social stigma
The ordeal for women does not stop with jail though.
Once leaving prison, women and girls face strong social stigma in the conservative country and may be killed in so-called "honor killings".
"I just want a divorce. I can't go back to my father because he will kill me. All my family has left me behind," 20-year-old Aisha, who was sentenced to three years for fleeing an abusive husband she was forced to marry, told researchers.
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It is a culture that is as ancient and dated as the people that live. Ass-backwards is the term I would like to use. Before anyone goes and starts bashing religions remember this, the culture was there for over 2000 years before Islam came to be. I am neither for or against Islam. To each his own.
Again, WHY are our best service men and women getting injured and killed FOR THESE PEOPLE? Not to mention the billions of dollars we could EITHER help someone WHO DESERVES IT of SPEND IT HERE and really fix things up? GET OUT NOW! GET OUT FOR GOOD! If the Taliban take over, let China deal with it. They're right next door.
Societies such as the one in Afganistan can't be changed. They must either be left alone or destroyed. The US and the rest of the world doesn't have the stomach to destroy Afganistan so we should leave as soon as possible.
If they allow themselves to become a safe haven for al-quada to use as a base to launch attacks their victims should obliterate their capital city and then the next major city and then the next one until either they stop being a safe haven or they run out of cities to bomb.
There will come a day when a group of these women will finally have enough of this garbage and band together and then I hope the men who act out these disgusting crimes will be so sorry.
Men and Women need to band together to stop the violance in homes around the world. This DISGUSTING.
Those women need somewhere to go where they are safe. I don't have the answer but there has to be help for these women somewhere, somehow.
Domewars, Bush has nothing to do with this. How ridiculous to even bring Bush into this.
The Afghan culture is the most barbaric and brutal against women on earth. They are worse than savage animals for the way they treat another human. Karzai is a disgrace. He has done nothing for the betterment his country; he is too busy stuffing his pockets with our aid dollars.
As long as there are religions around there will be killings and torture. When are u people going to figure that out.You kill each other in the name of GOD, and he kills his people to teach them a lesson. The old testament is full of is full of the misery and suffering of millions of people who believe in God. And who brings it about,God and his believers. Things will never change unless we rid ourselves of religion.