It may be easy to forget the war still raging in Afghanistan — a country where many regions are still controlled by the Taliban, a force renowned for its oppressive treatment of women. But female civil and human rights activists say women in Afghanistan are in dire need of help with job creation, development, increased security and a strong justice system to ensure crimes against them and others don’t go unpunished.

"There has been too much emphasis on the army and police and not enough on the justice sector," Orzala Ashraf Nemat, a prominent civil society and human rights activist in Kabul, told Women’s eNews. "We need comprehensive development for stabilization."

One of the biggest things the U.S. can do to help improve women’s health and other conditions in that country is to defeat the Taliban once and for all, say groups like Feminist Majority. For example, Afghanistan now rates second in the world for maternal mortality rates — when the mother dies during pregnancy, while giving birth or shortly after. A woman dies every 27 minutes on average from a pregnancy-related condition that is preventable, in most cases, with proper health facilities. Women’s health supplies are lacking, as is drinking water and electricity in many hospitals.

"They [women] are dying because medical facilities lack the equipment or the means to provide care under the best circumstances and in other circumstances because they lack electricity," the U.S. State Department’s Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer, said during a briefing on Capitol Hill this month. 

Women lawmakers are also taking an interest in Afghan women’s health. Rep. Susan Davis, D-CA, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the Congressional Women’s Caucus, said American troops can’t leave until a secure environment is established for Iraqi women and improvements are made in women’s health care. Davis said this is also a priority of U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, reports The Army Times.

"During a recent trip to Afghanistan, I learned that women in Afghanistan have the same aspirations of women everywhere — a focus on family, community and children," Davis said. "Afghans are working hard to address these health issues and we stand with them in these efforts."