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     Democracy promotion abroad.  Funny how it seem to only happen in locals of geopolitical importance.  I’m sure we’ll get around to distributing freedom for everyone eventually.  Afghanistan, on the other hand, is geopolitically important to the West for possible energy reserves and pipe lines that could be a significant boon to our adversaries thus in Afghanistan we remain, murdering people merrily with our drones and wondering why…oh why… do they hate us so.

Of course, hating the West is nothing new in Afghanistan (or even here in North America as those without sufficient enthusiasm for the ‘America, Fuck Ya!’ spirit are labelled unpatriotic or “self-hating”) and unsurprisingly the West’s notions of liberty and equality do not have much traction.

This situation in Afghanistan, of course,  is bad for women and a recent government ruling highlights the archaic regime’s failure to understand that women are people.

“Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked legislation on Saturday aimed at strengthening provisions for women’s freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.”

Ah, the shit-stain of religion once again reemerges to sully humanity’s escutcheon in the name of peace, order and good government.  Christianity, Islam it doesn’t really matter it is all cut from the same tattered patriarchal cloth.  Religion is bad for women and great for patriarchy.

“Khalil Ahmad Shaheedzada, a conservative lawmaker for Herat province, said the legislation was withdrawn shortly after being introduced in parliament because of an uproar by religious parties who said parts of the law are un-Islamic.

“Whatever is against Islamic law, we don’t even need to speak about it,” Shaheedzada said.”

They also plan to outlaw the earth revolving around the sun as well.  Stupid says as stupid does.

“The Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women has been in effect since 2009, but only by presidential decree. It is being brought before parliament now because lawmaker Fawzia Kofi, a women’s rights activist, wants to cement it with a parliamentary vote to prevent its potential reversal by any future president who might be tempted to repeal it to satisfy hard-line religious parties.”

What?!?  The religious fighting against rights for women.  This is shocking.

The law criminalizes, among other things, child marriage and forced marriage, and bans “baad,” the traditional practice of exchanging girls and women to settle disputes. It makes domestic violence a crime punishable by up to three years in prison and specifies that rape victims should not face criminal charges for fornication or adultery.”

Anything disagreeable so far?  To those not mired in the delusional fap-world of religiosity, nothing disagreeable at all.

“The child marriage ban and the idea of protecting female rape victims from prosecution were particularly heated subjects in Saturday’s parliamentary debate, said Nasirullah Sadiqizada Neli, a conservative lawmaker from Daykundi province.

Neli suggested that removing the custom — common in Afghanistan — of prosecuting raped women for adultery would lead to social chaos, with women freely engaging in extramarital sex safe in the knowledge they could claim rape if caught.”

Agency for women?  What is this foolish talk?  Social chaos indeed.  This kind of hare-brained thinking needs to frakking die already.  I have news for you my deranged mullah friends.  Women have the capacity to make decisions for themselves that what is best for themselves.  Your religiously addled brain can now begin to melt.

“Adultery itself is a crime in Islam, whether it is by force or not,” Rahmani said.”

And the vast majority of males being charged are a testament to this scripture…

“He said the Quran also makes clear that a husband has a right to beat a disobedient wife as a last resort, as long as she is not permanently harmed.

“But in this law,” he said, “It says if a man beats his wife at all, he should be jailed for three months to three years.”

And that law is rigorously applied because the male lawyers, male judges and the male justice system are all about protecting women in Afghanistan.  It is certainly not about proscribing female behaviour and legislating how women should act.  It is shit like this that religious have to answer for.

“Lawmaker Shaheedzada also claimed that the law might encourage disobedience among girls and women, saying it reflected Western values not applicable in Afghanistan.”

The right to be treated as a human being is not a Western Value, but a basic human right.   Fuck you and your sophomoric cultural relativism.

“Even now in Afghanistan, women are running from their husbands. Girls are running from home,” Shaheedzada said. “Such laws give them these ideas.”

Ideas like. “I am a person who deserves to be treated with dignity and respect”.   Obviously this needs to be quashed ASAP by the noble forces of Islam.

“There’s a real risk this has opened a Pandora’s box, that this may have galvanized opposition to this decree by people who in principle oppose greater rights for women,” said Heather Barr, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

That’s true for lawmaker Rahmani, who said President Hamid Karzai should never have issued the decree and wants it changed, if not repealed.

“We cannot have an Islamic country with basically Western laws,” he said.”

If protections and human rights are contrary to running an Islamic country then I suggest that having a Islamic country isn’t a shit-hot idea in the first place and the notion should be binned accordingly.

Islamic religious arseholes.  :/