The Noble Qur'an says that though polygamy is lawful it is very hard for a man to guarantee such fairness.
MPs also oppose the provision of providing shelters for domestic abuse victims.

Abdul Sattar Khawasi, member for Kapisa province, called women's shelters "morally corrupt".

Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb last year dismissed them as houses of "prostitution and immorality", provoking fierce condemnation from women's groups.

Disappointment

Activists lamented the failure to pass the law as a blow to women rights in the conservative Muslim country.

"Today, the parliamentarians who oppose women's development, women's rights and the success of women...made their voices loud and clear," Fawzia Koofi, head of parliament's women's commission, told Reuters.

"2014 is coming, change is coming, and the future of women in this country is uncertain. A new president will come and if he doesn't take women's rights seriously he can change the decree," Koofi said of the EVAW law.

Activists have opposed the submission of the law to parliament over worries that it could be watered down by conservatives.

"We did not want this law to go to parliament. But unfortunately it happened," Mahbooba Seraj, an activist, told AFP.
"Afghan women have fought for years to make this law. If parliament changes it, women will go ten years backwards and they will have to restart their fight."

Rights activist Wazhma Frogh was also critical.

"The parliament is politicizing it, but for us the existing law is valid, we will hold on to our achievements," she told AFP.

Afghanistan was invaded by the United States following the 9/11 attacks to topple the ruling Taliban regime which was accused of violating women rights.

Twelve years on, Afghan officials and right activists say that the West's strategy has proved failure in putting the country on the "path of progress" as promised.