By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington --The United States believes that a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan should include a role for women and be multi-ethnic, but fundamentally the composition of that government is up to the people of Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and first lady Laura Bush told reporters November 27 at different events.

Fleischer spoke at his daily press briefing, while Mrs. Bush talked with a reporter covering a meeting she hosted at the White House with 11 Afghan women exiles.

Fleischer said "the message that the administration is carrying to the talks in Bonn, Germany, on the makeup of a new government for Afghanistan and all the conversations the United States has with the parties in Afghanistan is the importance of having a multi-ethnic government that also includes a role for women in the future government of Afghanistan."

The United States, he said, "is not under any illusions that it will be done easily, right away."

"We're talking about different regions of the world where people have their own cultures and histories, and the future shape of Afghanistan will fundamentally be determined by the people of Afghanistan," he said.

"The United States will continue to play a helpful and constructive role in it. We cannot dictate every day's events to everybody all through Afghanistan, but the president will speak out clearly, as he did at Fort Campbell last week, about the need for people in Afghanistan to follow human rights procedures and treat people well, including the women of Afghanistan."

Told by a reporter that the Northern Alliance is not permitting women activists to march in the streets, Fleischer said that is one issue that he had not heard about, "but if that's true, that suggests, as always, a difficult challenge -- to achieve every foreign policy objective."

Fleischer pointed out, however, that the Northern Alliance includes "a very wide collection of different people in different regions who are constantly doing different things. So it's not fair to say that there is one policy that the Northern Alliance puts in place for every person in Afghanistan."

Separate entities, he said, constitute the Northern Alliance, and "the United States' message will continue to be consistent with all those entities about the need to treat women with respect."

Fleischer said the liberation of previously held Taliban territory in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance and by the Pashtun in the south "has been nothing but a liberating experience for women."

Thanks to the United States, he said, "the life of women in Afghanistan has improved immeasurably. The condition of women in Afghanistan today, compared to what it was three, even four weeks ago, before the fall of the Taliban, has led to a dramatic improvement in the quality of lives of the women in Afghanistan. Children are going to school again. Young girls know that they can get educated again. The situation has changed immensely for the better.

"Will it change to America's standards? No. We're America. Not every nation needs to be like us or is like us. But it's dramatic improvement, dramatic change. We can't get everything that we like as Americans; neither shall we seek it everywhere, but it is dramatic improvement and dramatic change," the Press Secretary said.

Laura Bush, at her November 27 meeting at the White House with 11 Afghan women, discussed with them the need for the new Afghan government to protect the rights of women and children and make sure all children get educated, "not just boys," she said.

Mrs. Bush said the Afghan women were at the meeting to talk about "ways that when and as the new government in Afghanistan is formed, that human rights for women and children will be a clear principle of that government."

She said one goal is to "make sure that women get an education, and right now we are at a very, very crucial time as Afghanistan forms its new government. The stability of Afghanistan, the stability of the region is very dependent on making sure that human rights are a very clear part of the new government. And of course human rights includes the rights of women and children."

Mrs. Bush said the decisions are up to the Afghani people and "I don't have any choice in how the new government is made but I hope that one principle in that new government will be human rights and that includes the rights of women and children.

"I also note that education is very, very important. That's what I have really based my life on, my whole career on the education of American children. It's also very important for the stability of Afghanistan once the new government is formed to make sure every child there is offered an education, not just boys."

Mrs. Bush also stressed that the 11 women present were all educated, either in pre-Taliban Afghanistan or outside Afghanistan, adding: "It's not new for Afghanistan to have educated women."

She was asked if the women she'd been speaking with were encouraged so far by what they're hearing from Afghanistan. "They are," she replied as several women nodded their heads affirmatively. "They are very encouraged. They know how crucial this time is as the talks start in Bonn to make sure ... the Afghanistan government will be diverse and include everyone."