During the conflict and civil war in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly between 1992 and 1995, armed factions turned the traditional norms of honor and shame into weapons of war, engaging in rape and sexual assault against women of opposing groups as an ultimate means of dishonoring entire communities and reducing people's capacities to resist military In response, concerns about women's security led to the imposition of ever stricter interpretations of what constitutes socially acceptable behavior, supported by the most conservative reading of the holy scriptures. This development culminated under the Taliban regime whose views on gender denied women any role outside the immediate family and resulted.
