[BritBulldog]

Ah well, music can be now be played again, children can fly kites and men can shave off their beards.

[SocialMeltdown]

...the truth is that, Taliban or no Taliban, women here remain strictly second-class.

Meet the new regime, same as the old regime.

I'm sure things will be "better" for women but it's all a matter of degree.

[comitatus]

These guys will say anything to denigrate the collateral benefits the war is having on the civilian populace. Ture, Kabul is unlikely to meet NOW feminist standards in the next few weeks, but women can now walk outside without male chaperones. They will likely be able to work (starvation was the only option for widows and women with male providers under the Taliban) outside the home. Girsl will be able to go to school again. A con? I don't think many Afghan women would think so.

[Ratatoskr]

Only a few years ago women in Afghan cities wore flashy clothes and went to university. But those women have long since emigrated.

I see. And this recent condition is completely irretrievable, why?

[Alexandre]

Ah well, music can be now be played again, children can fly kites and men can shave off their beards.

Wonderland. But see, there has to be a big victory and yet another advance of democracy. All those victory speaches carry sad resembance of 1979 Pravda articles about Afghan brothers saved from gangs of pro-American (!) religious fanatic.

[xm177e2]

The Northern Alliance officials now in the capital mutter privately about not wanting women to vote. Education for girls is fine, education for women is pointless. Their role is to serve men - no more, no less.

Bush will pressure the NA to open schools for girls (which they have said they will do). When women are educated, they won't accept their 2nd-class status. We can't expect such a dramatic change in values to occur so quickly, but it can happen.

It might also help their self-esteem if a few girls athletic leagues were set up. Maybe the WNBA could make themselves useful, travel to Afghanistan, and organize that.

[VRWC_minion]

those cheering crowds who welcomed the foreign journalists were all men or boys.

And the day before they were Taliban fighters. Excuse me but if I were a female in that culture I'd take a bit of a wait and see attitude especially in that the same men are in charge with a different name.

[Dr. Frank fan]

So, the perfect should be the enemy of the good. The fact that women are no longer beaten or killed for Not Wearing Burquas counts for nothing.

Shame on us for being happy about it. Shame on us all.

[Moonman62]

We should give firearms and training to the women to make the victory permanent.

[Gumlegs]

Yup. Everything didn't become perfect, so no progress whatever has been made. Did Maxine Waters write this?

[Lady Heron]

Islam is the problem. We might have set the men free, but the women will never be free unless Islam goes. The only Islamic countries where women have some form of rights are those where Islam is not part of the goverment, and Islam being a goverment religion they are unstable.

[AmericanVictory]

Wonderful comment. Funny, I would have sworn that in our own historical development, we didn't arrive where we are today in 24 hours, and there were steps and missteps along the way. It is astonishing, the totalitarian nature of liberal groupthink: everything must happen all at once to suit their model of what is right; it it the tendency exposed by Hayek.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Let them play this music:

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

{Refrain}
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the party on the left
Is now the party on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

How appropo.

[Jefferson Adams]

We aren't there to "liberate" Afghanistan. We are there to get bin Laden and his cronies.

What's Left of America had better figure out that we are NOT the world's police force and/or savior. We have no business interfering with a soverign nation at all, except as it directly affects our national security.

Oh, sorry, I forgot. That was back when we were a Constitutional Republic.

[Mr. Lucky]

Perhaps this is merely the Standard's way of apologizing for being so wrong about everythings else in this war?

[dighton]

For the women of Kabul, "liberation" is a relative concept.

How about that! The Taliban got chucked out hours ago, and Kabul still isn't London or New York.

LORD, what an carping idiot!

[VRWC_minion]

How long before the liberal women make the burqa a fashion statement ? Jane Fonda in a burqa ?

[McGavin999]

It will take time. As the article said, women who used to move freely have emigrated. As the world gets acquainted with Afghanistan, things will change for some but not for all. You can't change things overnight.

[lds23]

We did rather well writing Japan's constitution after WWII, but women there are still "second class citizens". I guess we shouldn't have bothered then?

It's culture, not government. Or does "multiculturalism" only mean what YOU want it to?

[Kibbylou]

Brit, take a deep breath, and give it a few days, weeks or months. Change is inevitable because the whole world is now watching. Lighten up, dude.

[kahoutek]

Ever wonder how many US SF & Brit SAS are under those 'burqas'?