Afghan women rebuilding iconic Darul Aman Palace

The iconic Darul Aman Palace in Afghanistan which was damaged by war is currently being repaired and revamped.

20 Afghan women are spearheading the project to bring the European-styled edifice back to its former glory.

"Our participation in this important project breaks the taboo that considers women to be too weak to work on construction projects," electrical engineer Zahra Jafari said.

The palace, constructed in the 1920s by King Amanullah Khan was destroyed during the civil war which broke out in the 90s.

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani launched the reconstruction project in May, which will cost roughly $20 million over three to five years.

"It's a huge responsibility on each and every one of us. We strive for excellence and work hard to achieve success beyond expectation. And we want to prove that women are capable of implementing national projects." she added.

"We selected the engineers by only considering their expertise and experience," Sayed Zia Hussaini, supervisor of the project said.

"It was a transparent process and women engineers went through the same selection process as their male counterparts."

Hussaini added that women are contributing to 40 percent of the workload and are collaborating with only 60 male colleagues.

In the late 1990s, Taliban banned women's education and even going shopping without a male companion.

After the collapse of Taliban rule, women achieved some degree of freedom in society.

As being one of them, Jafari said, "By working on this project, we are contributing to the reconstruction of our country and empowering women.

"I hope it changes the views of the outside world about Afghan women too."