Before the current conflict, the world was well aware of the repression and poverty endured by women living under the Taliban.
But as the US begins to carpet bomb Afghanistan in an attempt to clear the way for the Northern Alliance to take over the capital, is the prospect of the opposition regime any more appealing for women? The Northern Alliance's foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah has said his party would involve women in a future civilian government - but should the west see them as an alternative? Isobel Eaton reports from Hodja Bowerdin in the far North East of the country.
