I have traveled throughout the Middle East and Central Asia -- primarily Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. It is shocking to American sensibilities to see groups of 20 to 30 women, moving through town as a group, all covered from head to toe in black with only a small slit from which to peer out of. The scope and scale of this throughout the region is remarkable. And, of course, the severity of it in Afghanistan takes it to a whole different level. I consider it gender apartheid, plain and simple.