In the no man's land of Kandahar province in Afghanistan, Malalai Kakar was like a feminist action hero. Swathed in her burka and carrying a Kalashnikov in her hand and a 9-millimeter pistol on her hip, the region's top female police officer -- and mother of six -- apprehended thieves, killers and wife beaters. Once, in a shootout with a dozen Taliban fighters, she and three male officers held their own until the Taliban fled. Another time, she burst into a home, knocked down the husband and rescued a woman and child the man had kept chained in a cage. Back at the station, Kakar mediated neighborhood disputes and even marital disagreements.

It's hard to state what was more important, Lt. Col. Kakar's status as the highest-ranking female police officer or her work as the head of the department's crimes against women division. Although she was routinely accompanied by her brother for propriety's sake, Kakar's work violated the sensibilities of ultraconservative Afghan men; she insisted on defining rapes, assaults and beatings as crimes, not as cultural and religious traditions. Unfortunately, with the resurgence of the Taliban, crimes against women have returned with a fury. Kakar, who knew the danger, pitted herself against the terrorists. Last week, after ordering her to quit police work "or else," the Taliban assassinated her. It announced the event with joy.