photo courtesy of al jazeera image:29069:0::0

Under the Taliban, women could not leave their homes without a male escort who was a relative: a husband, a father, a son. They could not go to school, work or speak with raised voices. They had to paint their windows black so that no one could see them inside their homes. They were raped regularly by Taliban soldiers, and for many, the only way to feed themselves and their children was by begging or prostitution. They could not get health care because male doctors could not treat them, and women doctors had been sent home.

The recently adopted Afghan constitution now says that men and women have equal rights, but as Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports, this is not the case.

For many women in Pol-i-Charki prison in Kabul, their only "crime" was escaping from an abusive husband or committing adultery. But in Afghanistan, this is enough to put a woman behind bars.

Massouda Hashimin, a 30-year-old mother of seven, told Al Jazeera that she ran away from her husband because she was "desperate."

"My husband was not a good person. He brought women home and he drank alcohol. He took me to the police and the police told me that the allegation against me was kidnapping the children and moral crimes."

"Moral crimes" for women in Afghanistan means defying the wishes of their family. Most of the women in prison are there because they were accused of adultery or of marrying a man they chose themselves.

However, for many women, prison is a better alternative than "freedom." At least here they are safe from family members who would kill them for making their own decisions.

There are laws and practices in Afghanistan that condemn many women to "lives of despair." Many of Afghanistan's girls will be forced into marriage at an early age, most of the time to men who are much older than they are.

This young girl was married off to a man of 50 to repay a gambling debt. photo courtesy of al jazeera image:29070:0::0

"Families chose this option for many reasons--to settle disputes, for example, or even to pay off debts.

"That is the story of one 13-year-old Afghan girl whose father handed her over to repay a gambling debt."

This girl is too traumatized to speak, or even say her name. Her father owed $5,000 to Mohammed Assef, a man of 50. He turned her over to him.

One third of women in Afghanistan are married before they turn 18. Of these, over half are girls below the legal age for marriage, which is 16. About 60 to 80 percent are forced into marriage.

Lest we believe the contrary, Afghan women and girls are not free. They cannot choose their own destinies. We did not go to Afghanistan because it was the most repressive regime in the world for women. We did not go to "liberate" them.