Two separate developments show Afghan women taking charge of their own futures, apart from the usual (and unfortunately real) representations of violence and victimization we usually see.

Whoever is minding George W. Bush's legacy these days sort of knows what they're doing: Here he is with Laura on Greta Van Susteren's show, talking about a conference for the rights of women. Just like Hillary Clinton! Sort of. And from a distance, Bush even has the added advantage of looking like a bleeding heart next …

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton announced the Saving Lives At Birth Grand Challenge a joint initiative on maternal health with USAID and the Gates foundation. Kind of awkward about USAID recently backing off women's rights provisions in Afghanistan, a major Clinton priority, with the regional director telling The Washington …

Aisha, the woman whose mutilated face Time recently used to illustrate the plight of women in Afghanistan, is now in Los Angeles, where she'll get reconstructive surgery thanks to an LA surgeon and his wife's burn-focused foundation.

Time's new cover of Aisha, an 18-year-old Afghan woman whose Taliban husband cut off her nose and ears because she ran away from his family's and his abuse, is horrifying, necessary — and a little misleading.

In Afghanistan, women Marines have begun to accompany foot patrols and encourage positive relationships between soldiers and Afghan civilians. Their tasks include obtaining medical care for Afghan women and encouraging them to sell handicrafts. Babysteps. [NY Times]

Over the weekend, reports from the much-anticipated Afghanistan election bega to show that turnout among women was low. Really low. Election officials estimate that about 650 of the polling places for women never opened.

A new Afghan law will allow men to deny their wives food if they refuse to have sex. The law also allows a rapist to pay his victim "blood money" to avoid prosecution. [Guardian]

We're often told that the overthrow of the Taliban ushered in a new era for Afghan women. Malalai Joya (left) and Pashtoon Azfar are trying, but neither thinks the situation is quite there yet.

"If women who were free to speak did not speak, we might as well say to the entire world, 'No matter what you do to women, no one cares, just go right ahead.'" — Mavis Leno. [L.A. Times]