More On the "Forced Democracy" Front

[Annie]

http://www.news.com.au/story/print/0,10119,12428491,00.html

AFGHANISTAN today named its first female provincial governor, a step forward in the slow political progress of women since the fall of the Taliban more than three years ago.

The appointment of Habiba Sorabi as the new governor of Bamiyan was announced in a brief statement on state-run Kabul Television.
Ms Sorabi, who was picked from an all-female short list, served as women's affairs minister in the previous interim administration of President Hamid Karzai, which approved a constitution enshrining of equal rights for women last year.

Conditions for women in Afghanistan have gradually improved since the overthrow in late 2001 of the Taliban regime, which barred women from education and from venturing out of doors unveiled.

However, conservative Muslim beliefs mean women effectively remain second-class citizens in much of the country and few occupy senior jobs.

Mr Karzai's new administration, formed after his October election victory, contains three women ministers.

Ms Sorabi fled to live in neighbouring Pakistan during the Taliban's rule, only returning after US-led forces overthrew the fundamentalists after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

She has said in interviews that she aims to restore historical sites in Bamiyan and promote tourism there.

The provincial capital of the same name is best known as the site of two giant stone Buddhas which had stood for 1600 years until they were blown up by the Taliban in 2001, becoming symbols of the movement's religious intolerance.

Bamiyan's population is mainly made up of ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite Muslims and known for their greater acceptance of women's rights. The Hazaras were especially persecuted by the Taliban.

The announcement of Ms Sorabi's appointment comes a day after Mr Karzai courted controversy by naming General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a regional strongman implicated in human rights abuses, as his personal military chief of staff.