in the middle of january, 2002, unfreezing day, i took and senatebrighton. to a girls' school. we visited a first grade class whose ages range from 6-12. the 12-year-olds had become school-age when the taliban took over. i remember asking a 12-year-old whether it bothered her to be in there with the lyall kids. she said i am so happy to have the chance for an education. i was touched at the time and i still am. as we consider our options, it is certainly my intention to see that there would be nothing in my recommendations and nothing in policy decisions over which i might have input over or control that would put at risk half the population of afghanistan, the girls and women, who still face some significant challenges but who are in school, in business, and in government. i am sorry for a slight digression but, again, it touches at metrics. these are things we can measure. i am not far along into this to be able to give you large quantities of statistics. not everything is measurable that way. i take the point that that which sized soeasuredi metri let congress and have -- an