Ugh. The following news story out of Afghanistan made my heart sink this morning.
Senior woman police officer is assassinated in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan: Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed a high-ranking woman police official Sunday as she went to work in the largest city in southern Afghanistan, officials said.
Malalai Kakar led the department of crimes against women in Kandahar, said Zalmai Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial governor. Her son, 18, was wounded in the attack, he said.
The Taliban took responsibility for the killing.
Militants frequently attack projects, schools and businesses run by women. The hard-line Taliban regime, which was ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, did not allow women outside the home without a male escort.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the assassination, as did the European Union, which said it was “appalled by the brutal targeting” of Kakar.
“Any murder of a police officer is to be condemned, but the killing of a female officer whose service was not only to her country, but to Afghan women, to whom Ms. Kakar served as an example, is particularly abhorrent,” the EU said in a statement.
Another important piece of Afghanistan’s future ripped away.
Transitionland 