with the cramped but real new freedom they enjoy, remember, gained by the coalition's 2001 war and not by an oppressive "peace" (no matter how unpalatable that fact is to the various Michelle Landsbergs of the western Left) :

.................
AFGHANISTAN:
Women's Lot Improving But Still Poor, U.N. Report Says

Despite important gains in the classroom and the workplace since the fall of the Taliban, Afghan women still endure considerable oppression in the form of violence, intimidation and restricted participation in public life, according to a U.N. report issued yesterday.

The 18-page study by the U.N. Economic and Social Council, The Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan, says women have come a long way since the days of the Taliban regime, when women were prohibited from working outside the home or getting an education. But the report points out that of some two dozen ministerial posts in the new Afghan government, only three are held by women, and of the 3 million children who returned to school last year, only 30 percent were girls.

The limitations on full emancipation imposed by "deeply ingrained" conservative traditions are especially apparent in rural areas, where the situation is essentially the same as it was under the Taliban, according to the study's authors. Girls and women are often forced into marriages, sometimes at a young age, and fall victim to domestic violence, kidnapping and harassment.

They restrict their participation in public life "to avoid being targets of violence by armed factions and elements seeking to enforce the repressive edicts of the previous regime," according to the report (Todd Pitman, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, March 6). Many women continue to wear the head-to-toe burqa.

The international community, and especially the United Nations, should continue monitoring progress for Afghan women and girls, the report said (Agence France-Presse, March 6).

[ 10 March 2003: Message edited by: Geneva ]