29/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - Members of the European Parliament Lissy Gröner and Christa Prets (PES) have issued a press release in which they condemn the assassination by Taliban militants of Safia Amajan, who had been chief of the Women's Affairs Department in Kandahar since 2002. Ms Amajan made major contributions to the improvement of the situation for women in this highly conservative province, and successfully encouraged hundreds of women and girls to enroll at school or to undertake training, the German and Austrian MEPs note, calling on the Afghan authorities and the NATO forces on the ground to "provide the maximum possible protection for those who play such a large role in defending women's rights".