COUNTING GAME KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/24/2006: A teacher reaches for a girl as children play a counting game at Habiba's Child Care Center in Kabul on a warm spring day. Habiba raised part of the money to buy land for her center from her husband, and sold her wedding jewelry to raise the rest. The Business Council for Peace (http://www.bpeace.org) gave significant funding for construction. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

GIGGLING GIRLS KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 12/16/2005: Girls giggle with a group of friends on a street corner in their Kabul neighborhood on an unusually warm December day. Wintertime means school vacation in Afghanistan, when children have some down time from studies. Outlawed from going to school under the Taliban, a generation of girls is now trying to catch up on years of lost education. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

CHILDREN PLAY IN COURTYARD KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/29/2006: On a warm spring day, children in Bakhtnazira's family play and laugh in the courtyard of their Kabul home. For their parents who have endured decades of war, hearing the normal sounds of children's laughter can be a soothing balm to a traumatized soul. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

INTENSE DISCUSSION AT SNACK TIME KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 12/13/2005: Children have an intense discussion during snack time at Habiba's Child Care Center. Opened with the help of the Business Council for Peace (Bpeace), Habiba's center will enable many women to go to work knowing that their children are well cared for and safe. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

STRIPE OF LIGHT ON SCHOOL GIRLS KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/23/2006: Girls in white head scarves make their way home from school on a Kabul street. During the time of the Taliban girls were not permitted to go to school, and since the fall of the Taliban they are a common sight in Kabul once again. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

BALLOON VENDOR KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 12/16/2006: A balloon vendor adds a spot of color to an otherwise brown landscape. He will sell his wares to children for a few afghani each. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

GIRL PEEKS FROM BEHIND A DOOR KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/18/2006: A four-year-old girl peeks out from behind a door. Born after the fall of the Taliban, she never knew the difficult life under their rule that her parents did. Given the ongoing Taliban insurgency, it is difficult to predict what kind of country she will inherit. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

CHILD TOSSES TOY KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 2/10/2005: A woman named Hamida runs the numbers for her home-based business while her child tosses a toy and her husband reads to another child. Like working women everywhere, Hamida struggles to balance work demands with those of her home life. Her handicrafts business employs several dozen women, many of whom are widows and have no other source of income. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

NAP TIME AT HABIBA'S CHILD CARE CENTER KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/24/2006: After lunch is nap time at Habiba's Child Care Center in Kabul. By providing good quality care, Habiba has empowered dozens of families in her neighborhood to have both parents working, which gives them a significant economic advantage. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

TEACHER COMFORTS DISTRESSED CHILD KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/27/2006: At Habiba's Child Care Center, a teacher in a white head scarf comforts a crying child, who is often sad since the death of her father. Habiba (in orange scarf) knows the child's family and cannot hide her own sadness at witnessing the girl's grief. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

CHAOS AT HABIBA'S CHILD CARE CENTER KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 12/13/2006: Although it looks like chaos, the children at this Kabul child care center are well behaved toward each other and their caretakers. When Habiba first opened her center, she only had two rooms for 30 children as seen here. Six months later with help from the Business Council for Peace, she had opened a larger facility with more space and staff. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

GOSSIPING SEAMSTRESSES KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/29/2006: Bakhtnazira (center) works and chats with the seamstresses in her workroom. She employs many women, some of whom are widows, who otherwise would have no means to support them-selves or their families. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

BOY WITH KITE KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 2/11/2005: A boy with a kite checks out the competition in the sky. Kite flying contests, a time-honored tradition in Afghanistan, were banned during Taliban times. Since the fall of the Taliban this past time has reappeared with a vengeance. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

HABIBA'S CHILD CARE CENTER KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/24/2006: At Habiba's Child Care Center in Kabul children wait for an art class to begin. With private child care a scarce commodity in Kabul, the mothers of these children can go to work knowing that their kids are well-cared for and safe. Photo ©Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

PASHTO CLASS AT AINO GIRLS SCHOOL KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/13/2007: Fahima (center) is the only female high school principal in the city of Kandahar, where she teaches Koran and other subjects in addition to doing administrative work. In a region where the education of girls is controversial and can bring threats of violence, Fahima keeps a low profile as she goes about her job. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

HENNA HANDS KABUL, AFGHANISTAN �" Dec. 9, 2005: After she has painted elaborate patterns on their hands with a thick henna mixture, Bakhtnazira's three daughters hold their palms in the sun to help the henna dry more quickly. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

DRIVER NEGOTIATES MUDDY STREET KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 2/6/2005: A driver named Haider negotiates mud and potholes on a Kabul city street. Destroyed infrastructure has left Kabul roads in bad condition, where entering an intersection can become a game of chicken not well suited to the faint of heart. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

MAN WITH CAMEL KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 2/10/2005: Contrasts between traditional ways of life and the modern world abound in today's Kabul. Surrounded by dirty but functioning yellow taxicabs, a man wearing traditional Afghan garb stands in the winter mud holding the tether to a camel. Whether by taxi, animal transport, or on foot, Kabul residents find ways of getting to where they want to go. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

DUSTY TRAFFIC AT DUSK KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 12/17/2005: During rush hour at the end of the day, bikes, pedestrians and all manner of vehicles make their way home through clouds of dust and exhaust that look like pea soup and can feel like a sandstorm. After the Russian invasion and during the Taliban rule, most of the city's trees were cut down either for firewood or to limit snipers. Between the lack of trees to hold the soil and many unpaved dirt roads kicking up dust, Kabul's poor air quality causes many Kabulis to suffer from respiratory problems and an ongoing hacking cough. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

BIRD VENDOR KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 12/16/2005: A vendor on Kabul's Koche Ka Feroshe (Bird Street) checks his cages. Birds are a popular pet in Kabul, and like many things are making a comeback since the fall of the Taliban. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

SHAHLA'S COURTYARD KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/14/2007: Shahla and one of her daughters stand in their courtyard to remove their shoes before entering their mud-walled house. Many Kandahari women rarely leave home and live most of their lives within the confines of their compound walls. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

LEARNING TO CHANT KORAN KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/14/07: A breeze blows the cloth intended to keep out dust during a Koran class taught by Shahla (in black). With her strong singing voice to guide them, every day she goes over over the prayers and how to chant them with her sons and daughter. Photo by © Paula Lerner

BAKING BREAD KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/8/2007: A young woman makes the daily bread for her family in the traditional way. Due to their conservative culture, many Kandahari women rarely leave home and live most of their lives within the confines of their compound walls. Their lives have changed little since the fall of the Taliban six years ago. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

WOMAN EMBROIDERS TEAL SHAWL KANDAHAR, AFGHANSISTAN - 5/15/2007: A young woman holds up a shawl she is embroidering in the khamak style. A traditional activity for home-bound Kandahari women, no one objects to them doing this work. For the past several years Kandahar Treasure, a Kandahar-based women's business, has been marketing this kind of product which gives this woman and others an earning power they never had before. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

HANGING LAUNDRY KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/11/07: Fahima dries her laundry in her courtyard on a Friday day off. As a rare woman working outside the home as a school principal, she has to get her household chores done on the Muslim weekend. Photo by © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

BURQA-CLAD WOMEN SHOP AT MANDAWI MARKET KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 4/18/2006: Women in burqas shop for shoes and other goods at Mandawi Market in Kabul. Although no longer required to wear burqas on the street, many women still do out of habit or fear of reprisals from male relatives. During Taliban times women were not allowed on the street without an escort from a male relative, but now, with or without a burqa, women can go about their business on their own. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

TWO BURQAS KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/6/2007: Women don burqas on their way out the door. Although many women in Kandahar do not often venture outside their home compound walls, on the rare occasion when they do they cover from head to toe. Photo by © Paula Lerner

HAMIDA AND HER SON KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - 2/10/2005: Working by gaslight because of an intermittent electricity supply, Hamida and her son examine the craft products that she markets for her family's livelihood. She commissions more than three dozen women, many of them war widows, to produce the goods that she sells from her home. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos

SINGING WOMEN KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - 5/15/2007: A group of women gather to play drums and sing traditional Pashto songs that are sung at weddings and other social gatherings. Because socializing in Kandahar is strictly limited to same-sex contact, the only men many women interact with are their husbands or family members. Photo © Paula Lerner/Aurora Photos