June 1, 2003 "Women were banned from working during the Taliban era, but doctors were the exception. So personally speaking, it wasn't a particularly bad time," said a female doctor at a women's hospital, rather matter-of-factly. But when a woman asked her what she thought of the obligation for women to wear burqas, her answer was less crisp. "You could work as long as you wore a burqa. It doesn't matter whether you wear it or not. Uhm... I'm sorry. To tell you the truth, I don't like burqas. The Taliban era was an unfortunate period for many women. I cannot speak my mind because I think the Taliban are still hiding somewhere and I'm afraid of them." The interview took place four months after the Taliban government collapsed. An increasing number of women were starting to take off their burqas then. I gathered 15 housewives in Kabul for a survey. Aged 36 with five children on average, they almost perfectly fitted the demographic profile of average Afghan housewives. All the 15 respondents said they were glad the Taliban had been ousted from power but added that they still feared the Taliban, who they thought were hiding somewhere in the country. Six of them said their husbands had been killed by the Taliban. Although the Taliban regime is gone and has been replaced by a new interim government, women are still worried _ quite understandably - about the possibility of rekindled political unrest as rebels are still at large all over the country, waiting for a chance to strike back. Afghanistan has gone through 20 years of conflict and chaos. After seeing so many power struggles and betrayals, people here simply find it hard to trust others. The U.S.-led war against Iraq launched in March 2003 triggered a surge in anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan, helping reenergize the insurgents. While many justifications have been given to the attacks, people in this country are living in fear in the shadow of war. (Published in EMERGENCY NURSING, June 2003 issue)