Mrs Blair will join women cabinet ministers

Meanwhile Mrs Bush will make a radio broadcast in the US on the issue.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "We do believe that we need to lift the veil and show what has been happening to women in Afghanistan under the Taleban regime.

"That is something you will see a focus on both on this side of the Atlantic and in the States.

"I don't think you can underline too often the way [women's] rights have been denied."

First for first lady

Mrs Bush will tell America on Saturday that not only did the Taleban repress Afghan women but they tried to export their practices abroad.

Mrs Bush will broadcast to the nation

Mrs Bush's broadcast is the first time a president's wife has made an address entirely on her own, according to the White House.

It is part of a wider campaign by the US government in which prominent women will highlight the record of the Taleban when running Afghanistan.

"There's no question the Taleban is the most repressive, backward group of people we have seen on the face of the Earth in a long period of time, including and particularly how they treat women," President Bush said on Thursday.

Mr Blair's spokesman said he did not know whether the two leaders' wives had talked about the subject.