Girls' enrollment in school is up, as is female participation in government and in the private sector. Around the country, health indicators are slowly rising.
However, according to UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes, Louis-Georges Arsenault, nearly half the country is still inaccessible to most humanitarian aid because the security situation is too dangerous.
This week, Mr. Arsenault visited the country for the first time in seven years. He was UNICEF's representative there from 1998-2001.
'During the Taliban era, there was no girls' education available throughout the country and also no women's employment whatsoever. So what I have seen now coming back seven years later is very refreshing to see,' he said.
On the borders of the country, as a war between the Taliban and the Afghan government continues, civilians are threatened.
UNICEF has begun addressing this problem by getting local communities more involved in the development process from the start.
Abiding insecurity has also made it impossible to provide health care and services to all those who need it. Afghanistan is one of four countries in the world still plagued by polio; without the ability of health groups to move freely throughout the country, proper medicine and inoculations are impossible.
UNICEF and other aid groups have been negotiating with the government and the Taliban for 'days of tranquility' during which humanitarian groups can take advantage of the cease-fire to provide countrywide inoculations and reach those most affected by violence. Negotiations are ongoing.
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