The selection of Karen Hughes to be undersecretary of state for public diplomacy means that President George W. Bush believes that two highly strong-minded women who seldom wear a hat can develop the policies we need to discard the burkas from the bodies of women in the Muslim world.

Theirs is the daunting task of rebuilding the American reputation and building democracy in the Middle East. If anyone can accomplish this, these two women can.

Hughes and her popular new boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are likely to change many of this nation's policy procedures as they approach the problem of building a more favorable understanding of the United States at a critical but opportune time in history.

The decision to form a Rice-Hughes team could not come at a more important time. The opportunity to build democracy and peace in the Middle East never has been greater, but the thread that binds this chance is a thin one.

Rice as the strategist and Hughes as the communicator can be counted upon to be assertive as they attempt to build the reputation of the United States in hostile Muslim nations. They are powerful women who understand the mind of the president better than anyone else, with the exception of his wife and possibly Karl Rove.

Their weapons will be built with communication, not by troops. In years past, the selection of two women to undertake the gigantic challenge dealing with Muslin nations would have been unthinkable. But the truth is that it would be difficult to find individuals of either sex more capable than these two charming but tough-minded women.

Each has a proven record. Rice capably has directed the White House National Security Council during the crisis-laden first term of the president. Hughes, who is noted for her guidance in both campaigns and the White House, has quietly taken an interest in the women and children of Afghanistan and is credited with helping get out the vote of women in the democratic Afghanistan elections. Of the 8 million Afghan voters, an astounding 40 percent were women.

Despite all of the election-year taunts about Middle East policy, amazing things are happening. First, Afghanistan voters turned out by the millions when given their first opportunity to vote. Libya saw the changing tide and surrendered its weapons of mass destruction.

The democrats and some foreign leaders demanded that the Iraq elections be postponed, but the president held to his course. Despite threats on their lives, millions turned out to enjoy democracy.

Yasser Arafat's death has led to peaceful Palestinian elections, and it appears real progress is being made in peace negotiations with Israel.

Leaders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia have promised democratic elections. Lebanon's gigantic crowds have adopted the slogan "Kifaya," which means "enough," and their demands for Syrian withdrawal seem to be taking effect.

Rice has handled the Syrian problem skillfully. Taking advantage of the alleged Syrian assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the secretary of state quickly withdrew the American ambassador from Syria. She gained United Nations and multination support for economic threats against Syria if it does not withdraw its troops.

The speech that led to the Hughes appointment was delivered by President Bush at the time of his second-term inaugural when he said: "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppression. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

The speech was inspiring, but it also brought questions as to how, without troops, we could help the oppressed who seek liberty.

This has been a stumbling block for the United States before. When the Soviet Union moved across Eastern Europe, President Eisenhower encouraged resistance. He secretly sent Vice President Richard Nixon with Congressman Bob Wilson to the Austrian border as Soviet tanks roared across Hungary. When confronted with the Nixon report, the president did not believe we had the military strength to halt the Russians and Hungary fell.

When the North Vietnamese broke their cease-fire agreement and devoured the South, President Ford was handicapped by congressional clamps on the power of the presidency in the sour post-war time, and he had to watch helplessly. After the magnificent performance of the United States and allied nations during the Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush urged greater independence for the Shiites and Kurds, but when Saddam Hussein murdered thousands, it was too late for the United States to re-enter the war.

It seems unlikely that the United States will send troops to support the democratic moves in Islam today. In cases such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, these nations have been our allies.

From the time when we first went into Afghanistan and Iraq, the president has said he believed freedom would spread once the door was opened, and at the moment his theory is working.

Protocol prohibits Hughes from giving interviews until she has been confirmed by the Senate, but the excitement in her voice indicates she is eager to tackle what may be the biggest challenge ever to face an American government communicator.

In her recent book, "Ten Minutes from Normal," she describes a 24-hour response center she set up in the White House to counteract the Hitler-like propaganda issued early on by the Taliban and the Iraqis. It seems likely she will build on the structure. She made it clear that she had adopted a personal mission to help with the education of women and children in Afghanistan during her first visit to that country.

"The world looks at our murder rate, divorce rate, teenage pregnancy rate and abortion rate and sometimes concludes we don't value life and family," she writes. "These all are significant problems, and we must do a better job of addressing them, but the America I know is a far different place. ... The America I want the world to see: America full of decent, loving people who care about their families and who care about each other."

It seems likely that is the philosophy that will guide Hughes. Basically, she believes that education and a taste of freedom are the ingredients that will create democracy, and democracy means peace is more likely.

To accomplish her task she will have to deal with powerful Arab television and newspapers in a way never undertaken before, and, in this age, time runs short.

Josef Stalin once asked, "How many troops does the Pope have?" In this case the troop numbers don't count.

The battle is for the minds of millions in the Muslim world. It will take highly creative communications to win the war.

Herbert G. Klein is a national fellow at AEI, retired editor-in-chief of Copley Newspapers, and former Nixon White House director of communications.