BBC NEWS | South Asia | Afghan 'anti-women law' attacked [Source: BBC News]
This news article leaves me a little speechless. The Afghan government is wholly supported by the United States government. That is to say, if our military was not present, this government would not exist. Said again, if our military could all come home from Afghanistan tomorrow, the government would fold before the last plane left the Kabul airfield.
The law, signed into being last month, limits the rights of Shia women. No longer can they leave the house without their husband’s permission. Wives cannot deny their husbands sex. I am sure other restrictions apply, these are the only two notable restrictions. I also found from a Canadian source that the law stipulates that wives and daughters must “preen” themselves whenever the husband/father orders.
The argument set forth is that Hamid Karzai needs votes to win the next election. The Shia Muslims represent 10% of the population. In allowing the Shia to establish their own family laws, the possibility exists that the Sunni Muslims will also be allowed to establish their own family laws, as well. By allowing various segments of society to establish their own rules, everyone wins, and, I am guessing, Hamid Karzai wins, too.
However, I feel that the U.S. is somewhat complicit in all of this, since we are propping up Hamid Karzai. What good is supporting a “democracy” that allows its population to be subjugated? How much of a “democracy” can the government in Kabul be if an entire gender has laws passed that keep that gender repressed?
Our connection to the Afghani government, the human rights concerns that these laws fly in face of, continues to put the United States on the edge of a moral precipice, an edge I wish we could back away from – safely.
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