04/19/2008
Spain's first woman Defense Minister, Carme Chacon, arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday to visit peacekeeping troops, a ministry spokesman said.
Chacon, 37, who is seven months pregnant, was accompanied by a medical team including a gynecologist, the spokesman said, on condition of anonymity in keeping with government rules.
She arrived at 09.15 GMT at Spain's military base in Herat, northwest Afghanistan, having left Madrid around 10 hours earlier.
Chacon is recently re-elected Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's most visible symbol of gender equality in a government that has brought in sweeping social legislation designed to rid traditionally male-dominated Spain of discrimination.
Zapatero's cabinet contains nine women and eight men. Women's rights advocates have praised Chacon's appointment while some conservatives have raised objections.
Right-leaning newspapers and some retired officers have criticized her lack of military background but so far no one has said her pregnancy is a problem.
Chacon is also due to visit Spanish peacekeeping troops in Lebanon in the next few days, press reports said, citing unnamed government sources.
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