Kabul women-only park reopens thanks to USAID

� A women-only park that was closed under Taliban rule and turned into a garbage dump has new life: the Women’s Garden, an 8-acre oasis in this country’s capital, reopened in November after seven months of reconstruction and funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The park gives Afghan women a place where lush trees protect them from the brutal sun and they can distance themselves from the hardships of life and strict Islamic doctrine. Behind its walls, Afghan women find the freedom and empowerment lacking under Islamic or sharia law.

via:[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2011-01-02-kabul-womens-park_N.htm]