For a young woman named Rukhma, it may be a bit unclear what the United States is fighting for in Afghanistan, or certainly achieving at such a great cost in lives and treasure. Our Afghan ally continues to impose strict Islamic laws against woman in shocking abuses. In this case, Rukhma was taken across the border from Pakistan, raped and abused and then forced to watch as her 3-year-old son was beaten to death. The result: prosecutor put her in jail for adultery and “escaping her house” in Pakistan.
The man responsible for these outrages was given 20 years (it appears that the constant executions that we read about under Sharia is reserved for other crimes like homosexuality rather than raping a woman and beating her child to death).
The true outrage, however, is the jailing of Rukhma. She received four years for adultery and “escaping her house” in Pakistan. For a woman to simply leave her house without permission of the family is a crime. The Afghan government, supported by billions of U.S. dollars, insists that justice was done. The chief prosecutor of eastern Nangarhar province, Abdul Qayum, reportedly became very upset to be even questioned about the case and said that she got of “lightly.” Now, here is an insight into our Afghan allies. He went on to note that “If my wife goes to the bazaar without my permission, I will kill her. This is our culture.” This is their chief prosecutor.
Qayum helpfully noted “This is Afghanistan, not America.” Good point. The next question is why Americans are dying so that moronic creeps like Qayum can abuse women and maintain a culture in the Stone Age. We have soldiers dying to preserve a system that rejects the most fundamental and inalienable rights of humanity. We have sought to reduce violence by allowing Taliban members and their supporters to resume their prior abuses. There would be greater support for our Afghan campaign if we were insisting that the government establish the minimal human rights protected under international law. Instead, we are judging “victory” solely based on our own assessment of whether Al Qaeda has been kept in check. Who needs Al Qaeda when you have thousands of Qayums to maintain their twisted view of paradise.
For the full story, click here.
Fake story!
Didn’t Laura Bush say that the women in Afghanistan were free?
BINX101:
What time is it in Iran and how is your tea this morning? Did you read your Daily Tehran newspaper yet?
Sorry my link did not appear – I was referring to Michael’s comments on the Oklahoma Mandatory Sonogram story.
Generally, I restrain myself from commenting on these articles because I have been to these parts of the world, and stories extracted from the context appear distorted. That isn’t to say they aren’t horror stories – even through the most barbaric eyes – but events, such as these have often, as per my experience, been the carrying out of threats in a game of diplomatic blackmail. I’m not referring to the crime, I’m referring to the punishment and continuing disgraceful treatment of women. I refer back to poster Michael Spindell’s comments on another topic here which identifies a global abhorrence – in that case OK’s version, but still rather barbaric.
The key though, is that we (the US) encourage this blackmail by storming into countries, while entire groups of quasi-military commercial concerns create a profit. I don’t want to step outside the lines, but, The United States has precisely the same deficit in its Diplomatic Corps as we do in Civics education throughout our country, by design. It started with Bush 41, and went exponential under the current President. We decimated the intelligence community – we politicized the diplomatic corps, and we have permitted incredibly dangerous individuals, with no ability to earn a legitimate living in a corporation, – to corporatize our government and everything it touches. All because their game comes from a membership or patronage. You know the names, you know the organizations and you know the players that weren’t really players and now they are gone.
The result – Our Nation, has no legitimate voice in the community of the World to criticize or draw attention to this inhuman savage behavior. We have no political or diplomatic collateral, and our currency is now based on the Yen. We have no way, by either trade muscle or shaping world opinion to actually hold up Democracy as relief from tyranny. We have spit on our trade allies and have abandoned talking to the world. Now they view us as “Feeble idiots screaming at clouds” At east since they watched us voluntarily pull the wool over our own eyes, and then explain that Democracy permitted us to do so.
It will be a long time before the US can restore its standing on the planet. Keep these stories coming please. Maybe we’ll be motivated to get there quicker and remind Americans that we were once much more than materialistic cartoon characters with fake boobs and fake erections, and perhaps we’ll get back our world citizenship and be able to help the planet evolve; instead of assisting in the devolution. We’ll revitalize the Peace Corps and create a few new Corps. Maybe we can do what seems impossible now. We have before.