This chapter discusses how Afghan women have coped across the decades with physical disabilities, most of which today are the result of war and land mines, and starts by presenting an overview of traditional medicine practiced throughout Afghanistan. Western medical techniques may first have been introduced by Amir Abdur Rahman, who imported a Scottish nurse for the women of his harem. Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital was the country's designated orthopedic center. The hospitals in Kabul continued to operate during the Great Disaster, but under Soviet control. The cruelest aspect of war is...

This chapter discusses how Afghan women have coped across the decades with physical disabilities, most of which today are the result of war and land mines, and starts by presenting an overview of traditional medicine practiced throughout Afghanistan. Western medical techniques may first have been introduced by Amir Abdur Rahman, who imported a Scottish nurse for the women of his harem. Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital was the country's designated orthopedic center. The hospitals in Kabul continued to operate during the Great Disaster, but under Soviet control. The cruelest aspect of war is the damage done to noncombatants. For the future, disabled Afghan women can expect better care from Afghan PTs, if the recommendations made recently by a British PT and her two colleagues are followed up. The author experienced hard times, pain, hunger, and rejection only vicariously through the stories of Afghan women and their families.