Reza Gul, 20, was rushed to hospital after the attack in Ghormach district – a remote northern region in Afghanistan – on Sunday. Her husband is said to have fled to a Taliban-controlled area.

“Mohammad Khan (the husband) cut off Reza Gul’s nose with a pocket knife,” Faryab governor’s spokesman Ahmad Javed Bedar told AFP.

The disfigured woman’s photograph (not the one posted above) was widely shared on social media, prompting calls for tough action against the husband. It was posted on Facebook and Twitter by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, but we chose not to put it because of its graphic content.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the husband to attack Gul, the mother of a one-year-old child who was married off five years ago as a teenager.

Bedar said Gul would need reconstructive surgery, which was not possible in the local government hospital.

Incident condemned by women rights activists

The incident highlights the endemic violence against women in Afghan society, despite reforms since the hardline Taliban Islamist regime was ousted by a 2001 US-led invasion.

“Such a brutal and barbaric act should be strongly condemned,” Kabul-based women’s rights activist Alema told AFP.

Other incidents in Afghanistan

In November a young woman was stoned to death after being accused of adultery in the central province of Ghor.

And last March a woman named Farkhunda was savagely beaten and set ablaze in central Kabul after being falsely accused of burning a Koran.

The mob killing triggered angry protests nationwide and drew global attention to the treatment of Afghan women.

In 2010, Time magazine put the photograph of a mutilated 18-year-old, Bibi Aisha, on its cover. Her nose was cut off by an abusive husband.

The cover provoked a worldwide outpouring of sympathy for Aisha, who was taken to the United States where she was given a prosthetic nose.

Feature image for representation / Reuters