Natasha Walter

In 2001, when the United States and the United Kingdom arrived in Afghanistan, they sold their mission to the world not simply as a way of driving out the terrorist-shielding Taliban but also as a way of empowering women. As the wife of the UK premier, Cherie Blair, said in 2001: "We need to help Afghan women free their spirit and give them their voice back, so they can create the better Afghanistan we all want to see."