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MADRID - Carme Chacon, Spain's first female Defence Minister, appointed controversially last week when seven months' pregnant, silenced her critics by making a surprise 24-hour visit to meet Spanish troops in Afghanistan.
The unannounced trip was criticised by some for potentially putting her child at risk. But Chacon said her pregnancy was an easy one.
Last week, the Socialist Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, appointed a mostly female Cabinet.
"Chacon moves on to the attack in Afghanistan," wrote the daily ABC, a conservative newspaper that a week ago had sneered at Zapatero's "battalion of seamstresses".
"The soldiers said they were delighted with her; not one made any criticism," said the equally conservative El Mundo paper.
- INDEPENDENT
