The current government in Afghanistan adheres to a far more lenient code of sharia law than the Wahhabist code in place previously.
When confronted with a test case last year of a Muslim who converted to Christianity, the government of Afghanistan did not enforce the death penalty.
This is enormous progress for a country in which summary execution would have been the rule less than four years ago. Ancient traditions that are part of the air Afghanistanis breathe are not changed overnight.
Afghanistan was never a tolerant country - it is now far more tolerant than it has ever been under its own domestic governance.
Moreover, the incident highlighted in the report refers to the actions taken by criminals against foreign visitors, not official actions of the government in Kabul.
Afghanistan is a much freer and more open place now that it was before and this is a direct result of military intervention. Women are allowed to attend school, hold jobs, uncover their faces. All citizens are allowed to read newspapers, watch television programs and films, read Western books and use computers - activities strictly banned under the Taliban.
If you imagined that a couple of years of US military intervention was going to produce a nation of American suburbanites you are disconnected from reality.
Slandering your country and its armed forces from your cowardly niche of safety is ignoble and foolish.
Only the last from my list of facts is, by any stretch of the imagination, subjective. Yes, there are degrees of freedom. Yes, the people of Afghanistan are marginally more free than they were under the Taliban.&nbap; This does not mean that Afghanistan is a free country. If this is a subjective judgment, then so be it.
If you imagined that a couple of years of US military intervention was going to produce a nation of American suburbanites you are disconnected from reality.
I compare Afghanistan with Japan at the end of WWII. General MacArthur realized that:
We could not simply encourage the growth of democracy. We had to make sure that it grew. Under the old constitution, government flowed downward from the emperor, who held the supreme authority, to those to whom he had delegated power. It was a dictatorship to begin with, a hereditary one, and the people existed to serve it.General MacArthur imposed a Constitution on Japan which included
The new constitution violated Japanese traditions. It was a radical change from the way things had been for centuries. The Japanese leaders did not like many of its provisions, but MacArthur demanded that they accept it. And once accepted, they honored it. And, because of this new involuntary constitution, Japan has become a modern nation, and a friendly nation.Article 20.
Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice. The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity.
Japan was a formidable enemy. Exceot for the atomic bomb, the military strength of Japan was comparable to our own. l; MacArthur had the backbone to take charge, and do what needed to be done.
In the case of Afghanistan, military victory was never in question. But Bush did not do what needed to be done. He accepted a new Afghani constitution which condemned the Afghani people to continued oppression.
Article One
Ch. 1. Art. 1
Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible state.Article Two
Ch. 1, Art. 2
The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.
Slandering your country and its armed forces from your cowardly niche of safety is ignoble and foolish.
In no way did I slander, libel, or, indeed, make any derogatory remarks whatsoever about the armed forces of the United States. The US Armed Forces performed bravely, honorably, and victoriously in Afghanistan.
The sacrifices of the Armed Forces were betrayed, however, by their Commander in Chief. The Emperor has no clothes. It is foolish to pretend that hi does.