WE REALLY NEEDED THIS - AT 8:26 A.M. ET:    From The Times of London: 

President Karzai of Afghanistan provoked international outrage yesterday with draconian Taleban-era restrictions on women and laws that explicitly sanction marital rape.

A leaked copy of the laws obtained by The Times details new strictures for Afghanistan’s Shia minority. Women are banned from leaving the home without permission. A wife has the absolute duty to provide sexual services to her husband, and child marriage is legalised.

Details of the legislation emerged as President Obama and other world leaders wrapped up the G20 summit to fly to a Nato summit marking 60 years of the alliance. Mr Obama is pushing for an increase in Nato troop numbers in Afghanistan, but many allies have already rebuffed his calls. The new laws may provide an excuse for remaining waverers to join them.

COMMENT:  This is very bad.  We obviously cannot go along with this sick, medieval nonsense.  And, yes, it's going to complicate our attempts to get further allied support for our Afghanistan efforts.  If anything, these new laws show us what we're fighting - radical Islam at its worst.

We have to find a way to advance our legitimate interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan without endorsing this stuff.  Karzai should be ashamed, but he seems to be a politician first:

Opponents of the Afghan President accused him of selling out basic human rights for women in return for the votes of hardline Shia conservatives for the presidential election in August.

This setback will, of course, provide fodder to our political left, which has not shown any particular interest in the rights of Muslim women.  They may now conveniently notice, as a means of getting us out of Afghanistan.  You watch.

April 3, 2009