Sitting ramrod straight on a small, uncomfortable-looking couch in her modest walkup apartment, Habibi is a beautiful, poised woman who appears to be in her late 40s. Her floor-length, long-sleeved dress, navy blue with light blue and white flowers, combines elegance with modesty. Her fresh appearance is a shock if you know that she was reporting in 1959, when Afghan women were allowed to appear in public without the veil, and that she graduated from Kabul University in 1966. I reflected that it must be difficult to look so polished in an apartment where the electricity works only a few hours a day. While the Soviet-built Microrayon complex was once the height of chic, it's now badly deteriorated, like much of Kabul.

What do you think of General Dostum's past? Isn't it going a step backward to ask Afghans to vote for a "warlord"?

You should not speak of him as a warlord. He is different. He always worked with the government he was with, whether Najibullah or the mujahedeen or the Americans after 11 September. And he likes to help intellectual people. That is another difference. During the mujahedeen period, he protected them. One night the mujahedeen decided to kill all of the professors at the Polytechnic in Kabul because they were [Afghan] graduates from Russia. All of his soldiers surrounded the Polytechnic and protected the professors. He said to the mujahedeen, "Our agreement was not to kill our people. It was to make peace in Kabul." All of those professors went out of Kabul.

How did you get involved with his campaign?

When I was in the constitution Loya Jirga [grand council], I heard some discussion about federalism in northern Afghanistan and some proposals to give all Afghan nationalities the right to study in their national languages. It was a good idea, but there were some problems discussing it. We need to work with national unity in Afghanistan. So I talked with Dostum's people in March 2004 about working with them. Then they requested me to help him as a candidate.

What do you think of President Karzai?

Karzai never did anything he promised. The money from foreign governments has not reached the Afghan people. Even here, in Microrayon, the electricity only comes at 8 o'clock. Maybe some people in his [Karzai's] government are not honest. I do not know about this. I know that the only one who has responsibility for all of them is the president.

Even President Karzai has difficulty controlling the Pashtun south of Afghanistan. If Dostum somehow wins, how could he, an Uzbek, do better?

If General Dostum wins, he will run out all the Taliban and al-Qaida from Afghanistan. They will not be there. He will do very soon the DDR ["disarmament, demobilization and reintegration," the U.N.-sponsored program for Afghan militias]. In two years Karzai's government has not been able to do anything.

What will your responsibilities be if you become vice president?

I will work with women's rights and social and cultural programs. My program for women has two sides. For the small, small number of educated [tahsillat] women, we will help them to use their knowledge. But for the 98 percent or 99 percent that are illiterate, we will promote four rights: the right to speak up in their families and make decisions concerning their own lives, including the right to refuse marriage partners proposed by their families; the right to literacy; the right to work; and the right to healthcare for them and their children.

The Koran gives a lot of rights to women. But it is Afghan tradition that the girl must be quiet. She must not say no to a man her family chooses. Sometimes two families that are fighting exchange women to settle the fighting. Also she may be forced to marry her husband's brother if she becomes a widow. The Koran does not say this.

Our society is very dark, very closed. We are very thankful to the United States for promoting our women. I have been to the United States two times, and I have heard many people telling me they want to help our women.

What do you think of the situation of Afghanistan now, three years after the defeat of the Taliban?

Now we have some liberty. But this liberty was given to us not by Karzai, but by the coalition forces. Sometimes Karzai gives a green light to the Taliban. He works two sides. He always has.

How about the situation of women?

We got our political rights to take part in this election for the first time in Afghan history. In the northern provinces, 48 percent of the voters registered are women. There would be more if they had better transportation. A lot of this is due to the activity of Junbush [Dostum's largely Uzbek political party]. This election is a very great experience for Afghan women. If I am elected or not, I will continue on this way. If we do not win, I may run for Parliament in the coming elections.

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Just before leaving her apartment, I asked if I might take Habibi's photograph. She told me to wait a moment, then returned wearing a black headscarf instead of the blue-and-white one matching her dress that she'd worn throughout the interview. Apparently a patterned headscarf is still too liberal for public appearances.

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