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About LinkBacksWest is BestOriginally Posted by BBC
How's that liberty tasting, Afghanistan? Is there a bitter aftertaste?
West is Best
How's that liberty tasting, Afghanistan? Is there a bitter aftertaste?
"Unless you are an absolute pacifist, then you acknowledge that there are times when taking up arms is appropriate."
- cactusflower
Come on now, Fergal.
Let's not get up on our high moral horses, now.
They have DEMOCRACY!
Sure they do. Sure.
"Unless you are an absolute pacifist, then you acknowledge that there are times when taking up arms is appropriate."
- cactusflower
Religion. Its Fantasic.
badinage - "Religion. Its Fantasic."
Actually it's 'democracy'. This wasn't a fatwa issues by some loony imam, this was the Upper House of the Afghan parliament.
It looks like the Taliban represented a sizeable portion of the Afghan people after all?
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there there is no river. - Nikita Khrushchev
The Taliban were/are from the Pushton tribe, who while a slight majority of the overall population, are a majority only in the south. The real issue with the Taliban was tribal, not religous, though I'd think most people didn't appreciate their ban on music, dancing, etc or indeed their programme of eradication of the poppy crop
Well we can't really complain about this can we? Those in the West who insist on talking and accomodation rather than violance and war are seeing the result of their preferred methods at work. The Afghan government has, in maintaining a broadly representitive government, had to appease the hard liners who now control the courts. This is not the first time the Afghan legal syetem has handed down controversial sentances, and it wont be the last. At least not until the country re-develops more.
"Re-develops"
Now, what precisely does that mean?
Funny, Thac0man. I seem to remember taking flak from you a while back when I pointed out that the whole democracy thing was a sham and that the parliament was stacked with people of the same ugly mind-set as the Taliban.
The main difference is.. the warlords and Mullahs in the Afghan parliament are OUR warlords and Mullahs.
I hate to say it, but..... nah, I won't say it.
As I understand it, he was giving out leaflets which mostly critisized the government for it's negative role in womens issues, but the also included iterms critical of religion, and thats how the government jumped on the blasphemy charge.
By 're-develop' I mean the infrasttucture and the political stability that was around when Afghanistan last had an elected government in the 70's. Afghanistan has existed for longer than you have been aware of it, which seems to be around 6 months to a year judging by the deapths of your posts about the country.
In the previous 'conversation' we had, I do not believe the make up of the Afghan judiciary was mentioned either by you or I. I would remind you that the Afghanistan parliment has one of the highest proportions of women representitives in the world, not just Muslim nations. Does that reflect a parliment 'stacked' with those of an 'ugly mind set' or even reflect the Taliban structure? You seem to infer a majority of Taliban like elements exist in parlimant, a view at odds with the evidance.
No one can claim that Afghanistans democracy is perfect, but neither is our democracy. Why you persist in attempting to undermine its legitimacy is beyond me. Its not as if you have an alternative in mind. perhaps you would recommend our method of Senate election as being more democratic?
It is also worth noting that the endorsement of the sentance, apparently given by the senate, was not done by senate vote but in writing from the Senate leader. This action is not in keeping with the Afghan constitution. So I fail to see the situation being as grave as people think when it looks like some people have overstepped the mark. This has created grounds for further possible appeals besides the two which can already be made by the defendant. On top of that Karzi himself has to sign the sentance.
I am not going to say the guy is not going to die or his conviction stand - but I would be suprised if the former was the eventual outcome.
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