With friends like these...

[JimC]

From todays Age (this link):

And we are fighting to save them from the evil and repressive Taliban...

AFGHANISTAN has quietly passed a law permitting Shiite men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation that President Hamid Karzai had promised to review.

The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to gain permission from their husbands to work.

''It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to a girl who was injured when he raped her,'' the US charity Human Rights Watch said.

In April, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined an international chorus of condemnation when The Guardian revealed that, according to the UN, the earlier version of the law legalised rape within marriage.

Although President Karzai appeared to back down, activists say the revised law still contains repressive measures and contradicts Afghanistan's constitution and international treaties it has signed.

Islamic law experts and human rights activists say although the language of the original law has been changed, many of the provisions that alarmed women's rights groups remain, including: ''Tamkeen is the readiness of the wife to submit to her husband's reasonable sexual enjoyment, and her prohibition from going out of the house, except in extreme circumstances, without her husband's permission. If any of the above provisions are not followed by the wife, she is considered disobedient.''

The law has been backed by the hardline Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohseni, who is thought to have influence over the voting intentions of some Shiites, who make up about 20 per cent of the population. Mr Karzai has assiduously courted such minority leaders in the run-up to Thursday's election, which is likely to be close, according to a poll released yesterday.

Human Rights Watch, which has obtained a copy of the final law, called on all candidates to pledge to repeal the law, which it says contradicts Afghanistan's own constitution. ''These kinds of barbaric laws were supposed to have been relegated to the past with the overthrow of the Taliban,'' a spokesman said.

A July opinion poll by US democracy group the International Republican Institute showed that although Mr Karzai was up 13 points to 44 per cent since the last survey in May, his closest rival, Abdullah Abdullah, had soared from 7 per cent to 26 per cent. If those numbers prove accurate, it would mean the contest would have to go to a second round run-off vote.

In that scenario, 50 per cent of voters said they would vote for Mr Karzai and 29 per cent for Mr Abdullah.

GUARDIAN

[charlou]

This kind of human rights abuse just makes me too angry to post a reasonable coherent response. Fucking sickening.

[The Red Fox]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic ... fghanistan

Once in power, the party implemented a socialist political agenda. The government promoted state atheism.[5] Men were obliged to cut off their beards, women were not allowed to wear the burqa any longer, and most of the mosques were placed off limits at the start of the regime.

The new communist government of Afghanistan moved to prohibit traditional practices which were deemed feudal by the Government. They banned bride price and forced marriage among others and the minimum age for marriage was raised. The government stressed to marketing education in the country. Education was stressed for both men and women and the government set up programmes to increase literacy in the country.[7]

Despite the attempts at reform, I found this the most enlightening part of the article:

These new reforms were not well-received by the majority of the Afghan population (particularly in rural areas). Many saw it as an un-Islamic, forced approach to western culture in Afghan society. The same problem had happened earlier in Afghan history during the 19th and 20th century. Resistance to the reforms sparked a long widespread repression in the country and provoked the tribal and religious leaders.[7] The urban population in Afghanistan supported the modernization of the community and country but rejected the Soviet occupation.[8]

Essentially what we have is ignorant, backwards, rural men opposing modernity due to religious brainwashing. The same thing is happening in Iran, the modern, urban educated class sees the benefits of enlightened thinking and has to struggle against the backwater which is desperate to keep the country in the middle ages due to knowledge being "un-Islamic".

I think we really ought to give a special refugee status to women from these countries. Any woman wishing to flee should be given a plane ticket, and provided state accommodation, welfare and education in the west until they learn to cope on their own. These backwards, violent misogynists would be left with two choices: change or die off.

I'm bloody sick of the abuse women are subjected to in that part of the world.