David Cortright is director of Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. In October, he presented to the United Nations a report titled Afghan Women Speak: Enhancing Security and Human Rights in Afghanistan. It included recommendations for U.S. and NATO policymakers.

The report is based on dozens of on-the-ground interviews with women in Kabul last April and May. Women in leadership positions: like parliamentarians, activists, school principals, NGO and health workers, and members of police and army. The report also features United Nations, U.S. State Department and Afghan government officials as well as former Taliban figureheads.