The lives of Afghan women

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    To match Feature AFGHANISTAN-MUSIC/

    ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE IS 2 of 22 TO ACCOMPANY A PICTURE PACKAGE ON AFGHANISTAN'S ONLY MUSIC ACADEMY, BASED IN KABUL. SEARCH KEYWORD "MUSIC ACADEMY" TO SEE ALL IMAGES PXP700-721. Afghan women play Sitars at the Kabul Music Academy January 7, 2012. In Afghanistan's sole music academy, students learn how to play traditional and western instruments as part of a government initiative to relieve the pains of decades of war through music. Despite a rich musical legacy, Afghanistan's melodic development has been severely disrupted by years of war and outright banned during the austere rule of the Taliban. At the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, orphans learn how to sing and play instruments alongside talented promising musicians who are selected on merit. Picture taken January 7, 2012. To match Feature AFGHANISTAN-MUSIC/ REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY CONFLICT)

    Amnesty is calling on Pres. Obama to spell out a plan to preserve the gains for women since the fall of the Taliban, which from 1996 to 2001 barred Afghan girls from schools and kept women from working and from leaving their homes unless they were accompanied by a male relative or spouse, denied them equal rights, and inflicted severe abuse if they did not follow Taliban laws.