Mrs Rumsfeld joins Afghan mission

Joyce Rumsfeld seen here with her husband and President Bush

The wife of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has arrived in Afghanistan for a conference on women's issues.

Joyce Rumsfeld landed at Kabul airport for a three-day visit aimed at furthering women's rights in post-Taleban Afghanistan.

Under the hardline Islamic regime, girls' schools were closed and women were banned from working.

Mrs Rumsfeld is taking part in the US-Afghan Women's Council and is to meet the Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

'Vital role for women'

The American delegation also includes US Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, and President Bush's former advisor Karen Hughes.

"We want to see a peaceful, prosperous and stable Afghanistan," Ms Dobriansky said as she toured a US government-funded school under construction in the Afghan capital.

"We also think women have a vital role to play economically, politically and socially."

Mr Rumsfeld, who play a key role in America's invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, is expected to join his wife later in the week.

Change slow

Mrs Rumsfeld has served on a number of educational foundations in the United States but has no position in government or policy-making.

The US-Afghan Women's Council was founded by Mr Bush and Mr Karzai in 2002, and supports programmes to improve women's education and opportunities.

It is scheduled to discuss the post-Taleban constitution, which enshrines equal rights for men and women.

But changes have been slow to seep through in the new Afghanistan - only about a quarter of those so far registered for national elections in June are women.