Three weeks later, I still can't get over the horror. A mother of seven children-executed in front of thousands of people. In front of women with their children in tow, women covered from head to feet with thick robes through which they could barely see the grotesque spectacle.

The mother of seven had murdered her husband. In Afghanistan, ruled by the brutal Islamic fundamentalist Taliban, that meant her dead husband's family got to execute her in public.

She was held down by two female guards. Desperately, she jumped up and tried to run away, to what savior in that crowd of blood-seekers one can only imagine. But, she was quickly restrained again and shot three times. What will become of her seven orphans? What will linger in the thoughts and nightmares of all those child witnesses? What public good was served by this cruel public display? Keeping women cowering in their place?

Women in Afghanistan are crudely and cruelly oppressed. They cannot work or even go out of their homes unaccompanied by a man, even those widowed by war with no way to support their children. They cannot go to school. They must cover every millimeter of their bodies, even their eyes, when they are outside their homes, lest even the flicker of an eyelash should seduce a man.

Sexual assault is a woman's fault. A man's lust is a woman's fault. She was too exposed or too brazen or too alluring, all covered in her burqa (a heavy garment covering women totally, including their eyes, which peek out through a heavy mesh). I can't help but wonder why a man isn't responsible for just looking away, for just not feeling that infamous lust in his heart. Why is this only a woman's problem? Perhaps because that is a way to turn her into property, to control her mind and body, to blame her alone for society's problems.

In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, among other places in the world, a man's honor is besmirched by any real or supposed misconduct on the part of a woman in his family. He is entitled to impose any punishment he sees fit, including death, on the woman who sullies his good name. Why is it that a woman's behavior-not a man's-is the sole test of honor? Why is it that a woman has no recourse to tyranny and violence other than to submit to it? Was the executed woman's murder of her husband a last, desperate attempt to free herself from a life from hell?

When the Taliban took over much of Afghanistan after many years of civil war, many people were deeply relieved. At last the horror of bombs and death would be over. But, the Taliban replaced the terror of war with the terror of repression-of both women and men.

Television and music were banned. Men had to grow long beards. Even worse, the Taliban guerillas-cum-liberators began breaking into people's homes, murdering and kidnapping boys and men as they wished.

The reign of terror continues. And with it, a new flow of Afghani refugees to the United States. These new refugees are mostly women and children, arriving with ravaged lives and few skills. Theirs is a tragedy of enormous proportions. But the tragedy in Afghanistan itself is far greater.

For many reasons, we need to pay attention to Afghanistan. In addition to depriving half their population of all basic human rights, the Taliban protect the terrorist leader who allegedly masterminded the US embassy bombings in Africa. But there is more to concern us.

The Taliban brand of harsh religious fanaticism could easily overtake the governments of other Muslim countries, some of which are under intense fundamentalist pressure now. Any harboring of terrorists encourages others to attack Americans as well. And, the ruthless violation of women's freedom dehumanizes women worldwide. All this makes the Taliban a particularly repulsive government.

What happens halfway around the world has significant impacts here, from US military involvement to terrorist acts aimed at Americans. We do need to inform ourselves about the Taliban and others who are brutal, repressive and therefore threatening to all we believe in.