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Afghanistan's Next Top Model


From Reuters:

KABUL, Feb 17 (Reuters) -- Weary of Afghanistan's image as a country in chronic conflict with a history of repressing women, Arash Shenasa plans to launch a modeling contest to show "the hidden beauties" of his central Asian nation.

Since announcing the plan a week ago, some 2,000 men and women have enrolled to take part in the "Afghan Model" competition run by Emrooz TV, a private channel.

Top companies operating in Afghanistan have offered to sponsor the programme, the first of its kind in Afghanistan, Shenasa said.

These kinds of contests have become popular in many nations around the world. But it is an extraordinary development in Afghanistan, where more than seven years after the fall of the hardline Taliban, many women in the deeply conservative nation still wear the all-enveloping burqas.

"My main aim is to show the hidden beauties of Afghan youth, and through Emrooz TV, I am trying to show just that," says the 24-year-old, clean-shaven Shenasa.

-- Grant Podelco

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