Some of the more poignant images we have seen in the last year were those of women and girls previously living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan and the slow transformation they are making from total sequestration and subservience back to the pre-Taliban levels of professional employment, autonomy and education they once enjoyed. Thanks to intervention by international forces, the iron fist of the Taliban no longer rules in most of Afghanistan. The regime’s sexist sharia statutes are fodder for the history books.

The irony in seeing so many women shedding their sky-blue burqas for a less-constricting veil is that within the very same forces that liberated Afghanistan, violence against women occurs at an unacceptably high rate. In the last month and a half, four wives of U.S. Army Special Forces personnel stationed at Fort Bragg were killed by their husbands. These cases are not merely an aberration; they are part of a deadly pattern.

The Defense Department’s Task Force on Domestic Violence was established when studies showed that while domestic abuse decreased nationwide in the 1990s, domestic abuse in the military was on the rise. The Miles Foundation, an advocacy group for victims of military domestic violence, found that the rate of domestic abuse within the military is two to five times that of the civilian population, numbers that may be conservative if ex-spouses and girlfriends were counted as well.

The military was quick to attribute the murders to stress. Three of the men had returned from tours of duty in Afghanistan. Some of the marriages were troubled. Dangerous assignments, extended periods away from their families and an inability to control the homefront from their remote deployment sites all contributed to this stress.

Obviously, we need to banish all notions of Jimmy Stewart-esque soldiers who eagerly await love letters from their best girl. All too often, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. In the U.S. military, paranoia about extramarital affairs and military wives not paying bills while their husbands are away can lead to explosive confrontations when a soldier returns home.

Add also to the mix the frequent moves made by military families. Unlike many civilians who are surrounded by a supportive network of friends and family, military families are forced to move often. Institutions such as family, friends and church that typically address marital problems are often too far away or too unfamiliar for military families to rely upon them in the same way civilian families do. Isolation and separation from these important networks creates extreme hardships for couples trying to navigate through difficult times.

The sum of these factors is taking its toll. According to the Miles Foundation, one in three Army families suffers from spousalabuse. The Defense Department has identified more than 60,000 domestic abuse offenders – active duty or spouses of active duty personnel who have perpetrated at least one abusive incident against their spouses. In the last six weeks, four women have died, all allegedly at the hands of their Special Forces husbands.

The success of the military establishment in the United States has been a consistent commitment to pour in resources to train soldiers to make war. Standards are set for everything from push-ups to clothing, bombers to rifles. The systemic nature of the U.S. military has made it the force to be reckoned with, but even with all the protocol, the well-being of soldiers and their families has been inadequately addressed.

Trained counselors should be readily available for military families experiencing undue stress or spousal abuse. To make up for the supportive networks not present for families constantly on the move, the Defense Department’s Task Force on Domestic Violence should establish safe havens and confidential contacts for members of military families suffering abuse.

Many have lauded efforts made by the U.S. military to take care not to attack non-combatants during the operations in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it seems the same policy is not extended to the families of U.S. forces. Freedom for the women of Afghanistan seems a hollow victory when American spouses of Special Forces officers are still experiencing terror at the hands of the liberators of Afghanistan.

Rachel Faber Machacha is a graduate student in international development studies from Emmetsburg.