In recent months, international aid workers in Kabul have been warned not to raise the issue of women's rights before the Afghan presidential election, now scheduled for October, lest it spook a "conservative" reaction, topple the fragile Karzai government and reflect badly on the nation-building abilities of George W. Bush. Women's advocates are reminded that armed rebellion brought down the reformist King Amanullah in 1929 after he attempted to abolish purdah, and President Taraki in 1979 after he allowed girls to attend school. Human rights advocates call for similar changes today--minimum legal age for marriage, an end to bride price, equal education--and having signed international human rights agreements (such as CEDAW, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), Afghanistan is bound to comply. But these days the shadow of the resurgent Taliban--the same sort of "conservative" force that, in the past, crushed king and Communist alike--hovers over Kabul like a darkening cloud.

Nevertheless, I wanted to know what had become of the Herati shelter girls. Shuhada gave me the newlyweds' addresses so I could see for myself how happy they were. I found one young woman, badly bruised, who said her husband and his brother often beat her. She said she hoped to run away. I heard that another new bride had already escaped. But the other addresses on the list came up empty. The women were unknown.

In July Dr. Samar told the two marriage refuseniks, now 18, that they were too old to live in the shelter. They were given a choice: Marry or leave. They signed a document saying that the shelter owes them nothing, and they walked out the door--loose women again, or maybe, for the time being, free.

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