KABUL: Barbers throughout Kabul, Afghanistan, celebrated the ouster of the Taliban from the capital city. Thousands of men, who had been forced to wear beards, immediately went for a shave and a hair cut the minute the Taliban fled the city.

"God is great," said one Afghan man, "and a clean face is even better.".

Barbers, whose business had been virtually wiped out by the Taliban, were happy to be able to work again. "With no hair to cut and beards to shave, I was almost starving to death," said one barber as he worked on his 37th shave of the day.

Music banned by the Taliban could be heard throughout the city, as CD players were dusted off and radios turned on.

Thousands of refugees from the southern part of Afghanistan started entering the city, seeking shaves and hair cuts.

"We were worried that the takeover of Kabul by the Northern Alliance might be a human rights disaster," said an anonymous spokesman for the US Army, "and we didn't expect the situation to turn into a massive run to the barber shops of the city."

WASHINGTON: America's forced education into speaking Arabic continued last week with the new word "hawala".

"Hawala" refers to a system of undocumented financial transactions hereby money can be moved all around the world with virtually no paper trail. Perfect for funneling money to terrorists.

Previously, the Arabic language lessons have included:

 intifada: the periodic uprising of Palestinians whenever Israel refuses demand of the PLO.

 jihad: a holy war against the infidels.

infidel:  anyone not agreeing with the person calling for a jihad.

fatwah: a calling for a jihad, or other proclamation involving death to someone else.

mullah or imman: the person usually issuing the fatwah calling for a jihad against the infidels in support of the intifada using a hawala to pay for this.