  The origin of the soft X-ray emission in obscured AGN is still largely
unknown. However, important progresses have been made thanks to the high energy
and spatial resolution of XMM-Newton and Chandra. We review here the latest
results on this issue, focusing on the physical properties of the material
responsible for the soft X-ray emission and its relation to the circumnuclear
environment, putting them in the general context of our understanding of the
AGN structure and its feedback to the host galaxy.
