On one of her 20/20 broadcasts, Barbara Walters did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands.
She returned years later, and observed that women still walked behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seemed happy to maintain the old custom.
The ultra-liberal Ms. Walters, seeking proof that Afghani women were repressed, approached one of the Afghani women and asked, ‘Why do you now seem content 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.”