An Afghanistan ultimatum

A new law passed last week by Afghani President Hamid Karzai’s government restricting the rights of women has forced me to think that it may be time to do in Afghanistan what President Obama is planning to do in Iraq – leave!

In case you haven’t heard, this new – and odious – law would severely restrict the choices and rights of Shiite women in Afghanistan. This is bad law on at least two fronts.

First, the law is a clear violation of human rights. The measure would reportedly make Shiite women nothing more than wards of their husbands, even requiring spousal permission to leave the house. Worse, the law forbids a woman from saying no to having sex with her husband – meaning that husbands can now legally rape their wives.

This is bad enough on its face, but it is made worse by politicians – particularly Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government – who argue that NATO forces are there in order to HELP Afghani women. Former First Lady Laura Bush even made the rights of Afghani women her signature issue in the latter years of Bush’s presidency.

But no, women’s rights is not really the reason for the war in Afghanistan – it was a red herring created by politicians and sold to the American and Canadian public when support for the original reason for the mission fell.

And what is that original reason? Just ask Obama. Here’s what he said last month: "So let me be clear: Al Qaeda and its allies – the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks – are in Pakistan and Afghanistan.” So fighting terrorism is why we are there. To that end, Obama plans on INCREASING the number of troops in Afghanistan.

This might be a worthy cause for continuing to fight in Afghanistan, but don’t sell the voting public a bill of goods that we are there to help Afghani women.

The second reason why this new law is wrong is that it applies only to the country’s Shiite minority, and not the Sunni majority. So Shiite women will have fewer rights than Sunni women. Treating people differently based on one’s religion? That should not be tolerated.

Supporters of Afghanistan have argued that women already don’t have many rights there, so all the law does is codify common practice. Plus, they say, Afghanistan is a different culture than the West, and repealing this law will not immediately change attitudes and cultural norms.

Well no, it won’t. But that’s no argument not to make the law reflect what should be. The U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 didn’t eradicate racism, but it sure did empower blacks and other minorities – over time – to stand tall and be counted. Repealing this repugnant law in Afghanistan can only help women there.

Others argue that Afghanistan is a sovereign nation, and Western and NATO forces don’t have the right to tell this foreign government what laws to pass or repeal. That’s true, to a point. After all, nations like the U.S. and Canada are spending money and lives in Afghanistan. NATO forces are, in theory, helping to build a stable nation there. And Karzai only has whatever power he has because of that Western-backed coalition. Does Karzai really want to piss off his NATO patrons?

This must be where we draw a line in the sand. This law has to go – or we do.