Shops like Fatima's bookstore, opened in a neighborhood of schools, also signal hope in Afghanistan's future.  Children now march off to class instead of running from war.  Her student-customers now include girls as well as boys.

Under Taliban rule, girls were barred from schools and women could not work outside their home.  But women now represent 70 percent of microfinance clients in the country.

Four out of five women reported an "improved attitude" among their husband and other relatives after they began using microcredit, according to the study, which recently circulated internally among the Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, the World Bank and the 15 microfinance agencies in the country. While just 18 percent of women in Afghanistan control their pursestrings, 46 percent of female microfinance clients say they enjoy total freedom over money they earn.

"Many are running their own businesses now," says Stephen F. Rasmussen, the World Bank project leader for microfinance in Afghanistan. "It provides women with more of a say about household expenses. It give them more power in the household. And now they feel they can participate in mainstream society."

Mastroa, a 45-year-old mother of eight who lives in the village of Pooza Ashlan, couldn't agree more.

She and some neighbors recently took out $500 loans from the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance to buy cows. Now, the women travel to a city 15 miles away to sell milk and yogurt.

"Before the loan, we were housewives," Mastroa says."Now we are busy with the cow. Economically we are doing better and spiritually as well!"

Microfinance is not a cure for all of Afghanistan ills. Many people are still desperately poor and don't have access to safe drinking water. Only 28 percent of adults can read and write.

In some parts of the country, violence remains part of everyday life. Microbanks have been robbed, loan officers kidnapped. At least two have been murdered on the job.

But the nation pushes on.

"Afghans are very resilient. People have the sense they can move ahead," says Rasmussen of the World Bank.  Microfinance "provides economic opportunity. It provides hope. It provides dignity  You're not getting a handout. It's rebuilding lives, rebuilding the country."