KABUL, Afghanistan -- After a 10-year ban, Afghan women drivers are about to be licensed to hit the country's roads again, officials said Monday.

Thirty women from the Women Affairs Ministry have just completed a four-month driving class and are expected to get their licenses Saturday - seen as a step forward for women's rights since the defeat of the hard-line Taleban regime late last year.

"It is a very important step toward the development of women's life," said Noorya, a deputy director of foreign relations at the ministry and one of the new graduates of the program. Like many Afghans, she goes by her first name only.

Women have not been allowed to drive in Afghanistan since 1992 when Islamic groups took control of the capital, Kabul. Afghan women were banned from driving, working and attending school.

Besides getting behind the wheel, the course included theory - recognizing traffic signs and car repair. The women practiced around the Olympic Stadium in eastern Kabul.

A second group of women, composed of doctors from a woman's hospital, have also been taking the course.

The program was sponsored by the German non-governmental organization Medica Mondiale, which also provided classroom material and paid the salaries of the two Afghan men from the Traffic Authority who taught the classes.