The Muslim World

Barbara Walters, of 20/20, did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan several years before the Afghan conflict. She noticed that the women customarily walk five paces behind their husbands.

She recently returned to Kabul and found that the women still walk behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to, and are happy to, maintain the old custom.

Ms. Walters approached one woman and asked, "Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?"

The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation, said "Land mines."

The moral of the story is, no matter what language you speak or where you go: Behind every man, there's a smart woman.