As the world wraps up its involvement in Afghanistan, authorities are slipping back into disturbing old behaviors.  The number of women and girls jailed for “moral crimes” has risen by 50 percent in the last 18 months.

Human Rights Watch says the Afghan government urgently needs to protect women’s rights.  The Interior Ministry’s own numbers show a sharp rise in the number of women and girls imprisoned for so-called “moral crimes”; From 400 in October 2011 to 600 this month.  These “moral crimes” often involve women who are victims of domestic violence or forced marriages.

And women who flee these homes are treated as criminals, thanks to an edict from the Supreme Court.  This is even though there is no such law forbidding women from doing so.

“Four years after the adoption of a law on violence against women and 12 years after Taliban rule, women are still imprisoned for being victims of forced marriage, domestic violence and rape,” said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director. “The Afghan government needs to get tough on abusers of women, and stop blaming women who are crime victims.”

Before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban relied on a strict interpretation of Islam that severely curtailed the rights of women.  After the US invasion, the Afghan government has overseen reforms.  But those are in danger as conservative segments of Afghan society begin to assert themselves into the void of the departing western influence.