Afghan women's leader questions western understanding of Islamic society.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

The head of the Afghan Women's Movement has warned that the women of Afghanistan should not succumb to "deviant western culture" and should remain faithful to their Islamic mores. Speaking on Iranian radio, Fatima Fatimi said that the purpose of the recently-established Afghan-American Women's Council was to exchange views, but she said Afghan women should question the motives of the Americans who were involved. Stressing that Afghan women had always covered because this was one of the dictates of Islam, she criticized westerners for having a "superficial" understanding of Afghan society. The following is an excerpts from an interview broadcast by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 11 January; subheadings added editorially.

[Presenter] Mrs Fatima Fatimi, a member of the Loya Jerga and the Afghan Women's Movement, has said that Afghan women have faced many problems during the past two decades of infighting and civil war. In an interview with [Iranian] Dari radio Mrs Fatimi added that Afghan women had been dealt irreparable blows during these years of war, and had been kept out …