In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Assistant Country Director of CARE International in Afghanistan stated that a widow\'s well-being depends largely on the goodwill of her missing or deceased husband\'s family (29 June 2006). However, the number of widows in Afghanistan has reportedly overwhelmed the family infrastructure that would normally care for them in the absence of their husbands (EurasiaNet 11 Apr. 2003; UN n.d., 1), especially in urban areas (ibid., 2).\\According to the Representative of Widows for Peace and Democracy, women whose husbands have disappeared are highly vulnerable, as they are perceived to be neither widows, nor wives (21 June 2006). For example, because their husbands are missing but not officially deceased, these women are unable to claim their inheritance from the husband\'s family, nor do they have the right to reside in the matrimonial home (Widows for Peace and Democracy 21 June 2006). Younger wives of the disappeared are also vulnerable to sexual abuse, rape, forced pregnancy and concubinage by the husband\'s family and others because they lack a male protector (ibid.).\\Because she is considered the property of her husband\'s family, a widow may be forced into levirate marriage, a practice whereby she is required to marry a close male relative of her late husband (UN 15 Feb. 2006, para. 28). The International Legal Foundation (ILF), a non-profit public defence organization based in New York, and a news article indicate that levirate marriage takes place in Pashtun communities (ILF Sept. 2004, 16; RFE/RL 27 Jan. 2004). The ILF explains in its paper on the customary laws of Afghanistan that if a male relative is not available, the widow is nevertheless barred from marrying outside the husband\'s tribe (ILF Sept. 2004, 16). If such a marriage outside the tribe occurs, the tribe could charge the new husband with kidnapping and fine him (ibid.).\\When missing husbands return\\In an interview with the Research Directorate, Afghanistan\'s Deputy Minister of Justice explained that upon the return of a missing husband, a widow who has succeeded in claiming her inheritance is required to reimburse him (13 July 2006). A woman who has obtained a declaration of death certificate from the courts and has subsequently remarried would not need to obtain a divorce from her first husband if he were to return, and could continue her marriage to her second husband (ibid.). A widow who wishes to terminate her marriage with her second husband must divorce him if she wishes to return to her first husband (ibid.). However, women who succeed in approaching a court with a request for divorce are reportedly met with verbal abuse and discouragement from judges (UN 15 Feb. 2006, para. 50).
Understanding Money\Money is a liquid asset used to facilitate transactions of value. It is used as a medium of exchange between different economic actors, as well as a store of value and a unit of account to measure the value of other goods.\\Prior to the invention of money, most economies relied on bartering, where individuals would directly trade the goods they had for those that they needed. This raised the problem of the double coincidence of wants: a transaction could only take place if both participants had something that the other needed. Money eliminates this problem by acting as an intermediary good.\\\The first known forms of money were agricultural commodities, such as grain or cattle. Since these goods were in wide demand, traders knew that they would be able to use or trade these goods again in the future. Coca beans, cowrie shells, and agricultural tools have also served as early forms of money.1\\As economies became more complex, money was standardized into currencies, further reducing transaction costs by making it easier to measure and compare values. Also, the representations of money also became increasingly abstract, from precious metals to stamped coins, paper notes, and—in the modern era—electronic records.\\During World War II, cigarettes became a de facto currency for soldiers in prisoner-of-war camps. The use of cigarettes as money made tobacco highly desirable, even among soldiers who did not smoke.2\\Requirements of Money\In order to be most useful as money, a currency should be fungible, durable, portable, recognizable, and stable. These properties reduce the transaction cost of using money by making it easier to use as an intermediary good.
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