Afghan Women Update

Back in April, 300 women took to the streets of Kabul to protest a new law that would require Shiite women to have sex with their husbands and restrict their ability to get an education and even leave the house. The bill had passed Parliament and had been signed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but had not been published in the official gazette and was not yet law.

Now, the amended bill has been published. The amendments have hardly improved it. The bill, according to the BBC, "allows a man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses his sexual demands; a woman must get her husband's permission to work; and fathers and grandfathers are given exclusive custody of children." Karzai supported the bill likely in order to win votes from the Shiite community in the impending August 20 election.

The bill is sadly just one reminder of how far away decent treatment of Afghani women still is.

Ten Steps Backward for Afghan Women

Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a law in February, curtailing the freedoms of Shiite women. Karzai supported the law to gain Shiite support in the upcoming presidential election. What would the law do?

• “Unless the wife is ill, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.”
• Wives are obliged to have sex with their husbands at least once every four days.
• Women can only leave the house if they have "a legitimate purpose."
• Wives cannot work or get an education without their husband's permission.

The law triggered a firestorm of criticism, both international and Afghani. In response, Karzai ordered a review of the proposition to verify that it does not violate Afghanistan's constitutional protections. Even if though it had been passed by Parliament and signed by Karzai, the act does not become law until it is published in the official gazette.

However, Karzai also defended the measure, saying it had been "mistranslated" by the Western media.

The law only applies to Afghanistan's Shiites, who make up between a tenth and a fifth of the population. But women's rights groups are worried that it could influence pending legislation concerning Sunni families and violence against women.

About 300 women took to the streets of Kabul on April 15 to protest the law. They were taunted as "enemies of Islam" and, oddly, "whores." Some women professed their support for the law. Other women were members of the police force separating the two groups.

I would like to see more of them.

The Coming Shitstorm in Afghanistan

"There is no magic formula in Afghanistan. There is no Dayton agreement in Afghanistan. It's going to be a long difficult struggle."   ~Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan/Pakistan

Yes, the road forward in Afghanistan looks to be long and bumpy, with several articles of bad news in the past ten days. First off,

POPPIES!

The Wall Street Journal speculates that the Obama Administration will battle poppy production in Afghanistan, likely bringing in Iran, which has one of the highest rates of opium addiction in the world. That's good news but a tough task: The Taliban fund themselves through drugs, but agents of the Karzai government also skim a little off the top. The governors of "the two prime poppy provinces" are close to Karzai: Kandahar's head is Hamid's brother Ahmed. Helmand's was caught with nine tons of opium and has not yet been punished.

Meanwhile, the fledgling democracy faces its first

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS!

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission has decided to postpone the presidential election till August 20 in order to register more candidates, set up voting equipment, and instill order. The problem? Afghanistan's Constitution mandates that Karzai's term end on May 22, and that elections should be held 30 to 60 days beforehand. Opponents in Parliament have threatened to stop recognizing Karzai's legitimacy after May 22.

But the most serious problem is:

LOGISTICS!

The Taliban destroy a bridge along a crucial NATO supply route and torch ten supply trucks. The Kyrgyz president says American troops can no longer use the Manas supply base inside his country. Juan Cole puts it all together and says Obama might put the 30,000-troop surge to Afghanistan on hold.

Personally, I'm skeptical. Obama may be postponing the Afghanistan surge, but the reasons are probably more strategic than logistic. NATO does not seem to be too flustered by the disruption, having a 60-day supply of essentials in Afghan bases. Cole goes through various supply route options and considers routes by air. Why can't we fly supplies in via Pakistan? Cole gives no answer. Better question: If the land routes are so treacherous, why weren't we flying them in before?

Also worrying is that the Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, announced the Manas decision in Moscow, after Russia promised $2 billion in credit and aid to Kyrgyzstan. Coincidence? Or does Russia feel threatened by the United States' involvement in Central Asia (and Eastern Europe)? Just like with Iran, the U.S. must work with Russia for their help in Afghanistan.

Today's meeting between the United States' and Russia's seconds-in-command (necks of state?), VP Joe Biden and Deputy PM Sergei Ivanov, was a positive step. The U.S. seems to be backpedaling on expanding NATO, which is good: Would the U.S. really want to go to war to defend Georgia? But America's insistence on a missile defense shield in Central Europe is mindboggling. I understand the possible threat from Iranian ICBMs, but shouldn't we wait until the technology has been proven and the threat is more imminent before we ruffle the Kremlin's feathers?

Head of State Update

Meet the new president of Pakistan: Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's widower, was sworn in earlier today. Zardari had been elected on Saturday, receiving 481 of 702 votes cast by an amalgamation of the national Parliament and four regional assemblies. Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, a former judge who had the backing of Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N, and Mushahid Hussain Sayed of ex-President Pervez Musharraf's PML-Q also ran.

Afghan-Pakistani relations were at the forefront of the ceremonies today, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in attendance. Zardari and Karzai held a joint press conference with Zardari pledging to continue Pakistan's cooperation with the United States' "war on terror." Although this will be difficult as Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, has been accused of assisting with attacks in Afghanistan, and the war is unpopular among Pakistanis, who see it as fanning extremism.

Also, Sharif recently pulled out of the coalition in Parliament that was united in opposition to Musharraf before he resigned. And Pakistan is facing an economic slump worsened by inflation.

Thailand Update: The Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that PM Samak Sundaravej violated the Thai Constitution by accepting payments to appear on the cooking show "Tasting and Complaining." Samak has been forced from office, yet his party is putting forth his name when Parliament selects a new PM Friday, making it possible for "Samak to succeed himself." Such is Thailand.

Headlines: 24 July 2008

• Guns ruling spawns legal challenges by felons: What? You don't like that you lost your right to bear arms after being convicted of a felony? What about losing your right to vote? You don't care? Hmm, lemme think...NO.
• Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?: POPPIES! The Taliban has been using the opium/heroin trade to finance their insurgency, but President Hamid Karzai has avoided eradicating poppies in the south for his own short-term political gains.
• Turkey makes 'coup plot' arrests: Worrying.
• Congress Revisits Military's Policy on Gays: 75% of Americans think gays should be able to serve openly in the military.
• How Sudan Was Brought to Court: Sudanese leaders are being charged with genocide after three years of diplomatic filibustering.
• Iraqi teams banned from Beijing Olympic games for accusations of political interference.
• Poll: Latinos favor Obama by big margin: "'Hispanics seem to have seamlessly shifted from Clinton to Obama,' said Susan Minushkin."

Headlines: 26-29 June 2008

• 6/26: Afghans See Pakistani Role in Karzai Plot: Members of Pakistan's intelligence service seem to have played a role in the attempted assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
• 6/27: Feds raid Blackwater's armory in firearms probe: Everybody's least favorite military contractor gets a visit from ATF.
• 6/28: Oil Hits New High as Dow Flirts with Bear Territory: Amid high oil prices and mortgage worries, the Dow entered then retreated from bear territory (defined as less than 80% of the value of its all-time peak) on Friday.
• 6/29: Hersh: U.S. escalating covert ops against Iran: Operations originally intended to investigate Iran's nuclear development and destabilize hard-line elements of the regime "have now been significantly expanded."

Headlines: 27 April 2008

• Oil refinery strikers hold rally
  

  A strike forces BP to close a pipeline that supplies Britain with 30% of its oil. Gas shortages have started to affect Scotland, ironically not because there isn't enough oil, but because people fearing a gas shortage are stocking up.
  

• Clinton Challenges Obama to Debate
  

  Clinton wants a moderator-less, Lincoln-Douglas-style debate. Nobody's told her that Douglas was the experience candidate.
  

• Bush pokes fun at his successors
  

  I'd tell him not to quit his day job, but he hasn't done so well at that either.
  

• Karzai unhurt after parade attack
  

  At least four dead and nine injured after Taliban militants fire into the grandstand.