Now, the Hard Part : Afghan women have come a long way since the days of the Taliban. But the rights they've won are more fragile than ever.(Islamic law)(Statistical Data Included)(Illustration)

Pudgy and pale-skinned, Fahima sits forlornly in a damp, concrete-walled cell in the Kabul Women's Prison. Her dark eyes peer out from beneath a black head scarf. There are seven other women and 12 children in the small cell, among them Fahima's two young sons (ages 2 and 11 months). Fahima, 22, has been imprisoned for three months. She's entitled to a lawyer, but one hasn't been appointed for her. That's not surprising in a country where laws are ill defined and haphazardly enforced. Fahima's biggest worry, she says, is finding food for her kids.

Seven years ago Fahima's husband dissolved their marriage by saying "I divorce you" three times--and then threw her out of their house in the Panjshir Valley. That is a legally binding form of divorce under Sharia, or Islamic law. Fahima, then 15, was left with little financial support and so moved in with her uncle. Two years ago he arranged a second marriage in Kandahar, a union that entitled him to a sizable dowry. Then came more trouble. Four months ago Fahima's first husband showed up and demanded 200 million afghanis (about $4,350) from his former wife. If he didn't get it, he warned, he would declare that he had never divorced her. She couldn't come up with the money, and now could face 20 years in prison for adultery. "I'm innocent. I haven't done anything wrong," she says.

Fahima's story wouldn't have been surprising under the misogynist Taliban regime, when women were regularly beaten for dressing improperly and jailed for the slightest act of impropriety. But she was thrown in jail in late June, seven months after the Taliban were driven out of Kabul. Afghan women have made substantial progress since last fall: they can now work for the first time in five years, and girls can attend school. Yet behind those images of liberation, many Afghan women continue to suffer harsh treatment, especially in areas outside Kabul where conservative attitudes persist. That is worrying human-rights activists at a time when Afghanistan is beginning to debate new laws. "Women's rights are being neglected again, particularly in rural areas," says Amena Afzali, head of the women's rights office at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. "There's a lot of cruelty toward women, and they're generally treated like slaves."

Several recent incidents show how serious the problem remains. Last week a girls' school in the northern city of Sar-e Pol was burned down, allegedly after fliers were distributed to students warning them to wear the burqa. (No one claimed responsibility.) Two weeks ago a religious council in the western city of Herat announced that women should work in separate offices from men, could not visit public parks at night and could not wear colorful clothes in public. Ismael Khan, the military commander who runs Herat like a feudal lord, has demanded that Afghan women avoid working with foreign nongovernmental organizations and stop driving cars. "Many of the Taliban- era restrictions are still in place," says John Sifton, a consultant with Human Rights Watch.

The danger for Afghan women is that edicts announced and enforced by provincial leaders like Khan could soon be codified into law. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will soon appoint a commission to write the country's new constitution. It will likely be modeled on one written in 1964 during the reign of King Zahir Shah, which Afghan-law scholars see as a balanced document that treats men and women equally. But Sharia will almost certainly be the backbone of the country's legal system, as it was under the 1964 Constitution, and how it is interpreted will be crucial. The constitutional commission (whose members haven't yet been named) will be under pressure from ...