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The most pressing issue of the day is this horrifying news that Hamid Karzai is trying to win over the Taliban by signing into law several articles that restrict women’s rights in clear contravention of the constitution’s equality between the sexes. The law would enact a Wahhabist-style of law under which women would be unable to leave the house without permission from their husband, and make marital rape legal. The United Nations Development Fund for Women warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers in the event of disputes as well.

It’s an explosive charge, one that I’m not in a position to evaluate. So let me just lay it out. On today’s Morning Joe, Pat Buchanan suggested that the Obama administration might like to see Afghani President Hamid Karzai given the same treatment as Ngo Dinh Diem. Readers will recall that Diem was the first President of South Vietnam. He was executed by rebels after the Kennedy administration reportedly signaled Vietnamese generals that the US would not interfere if they carried out a coup d’etat against him. Here’s the exchange: SCARBOROUGH: You know, Pat, I read over the weekend that...

Representatives of women from across Afghanistan have called on President Hamid Karzai not to undermine their position by talking to the Taleban. The president's brother recently sat with former Taleban leaders at a religious meal hosted by the Saudis. The meeting was regarded as a possible prelude to talks between the Afghan government and the Islamist movement. Mr Karzai told a conference of about 400 women that any talks with the Taleban would respect the constitution. The women fear that the talks could lead to a reversal of the gains they have made since the overthrow of the Taleban in...

From the Toronto Star / Canadian Press: [PM Harper said] "This government [of Canada] is committed to rebuilding the armed forces of Canada and we are overwhelmed with the support we are getting to do that." Prompted by the wives of two Canadian soldiers, thousands attended a rally on September 22 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to support Canada's troops overseas. During the event, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged again to rebuild Canada's military. Harper reportedly told a "rambunctious, upbeat audience" that they owe their freedoms to soldiers just like the ones who are fighting terrorism in Afghanistan today. "Let...

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says a French newspaper report that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has died is just speculation. However, he says it will be good news if it turns out to be true. A French regional newspaper, L'Est Republicain, has published a leaked French intelligence service document stating Saudi intelligence officials are convinced Osama bin Laden is dead. French President Jacques Chirac confirmed the report is based on an official briefing, but stresses the information is in no way confirmed. Europe Correspondent Rafael Epstein reports according to the newspaper, Saudi officials quoted a usually reliable source in...

WASHINGTON (RTRS): Nato’s southern Afghanistan offensive this month killed 1,000 to 1,500 Taleban fighters, a large chunk of the entire force, passing a major test on the battlefield, its top operational commander said on Wednesday. Gen. James Jones, Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, also said alliance allies have committed to provide at least 2,000 of the roughly 2,000-2,500 extra troops he sought to bolster the 20,000-strong Nato force in Afghanistan. “There are some countries that I’m not free to announce that are going to make some contributions in the near future,” the US Marine Corps general told a Pentagon briefing....

KABUL, Afghanistan — Key U.S. allies Afghanistan and Pakistan must join forces to fight the "common enemy" of terrorism and extremism being fanned by al-Qaida and Taliban militants, Pakistan's president said Wednesday. But visiting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf also said Pakistan would never allow U.S.-led coalition forces _ currently hunting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters on the Afghan side of the border _ into tribal areas on its side. "On our side of the border there will be a total uprising if a foreigner enters that area," he said at a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "It's not...

Weekend Talk Show *Preview* for 6/24 and 6/25/06 (not the live thread)The main message is the Sunday Shows.  Message 1 will be the Saturday Shows and message 2 will be the show guest links post.  Then I'll post the ping list.Sunday Shows for 6-25-06 ABC This Week (George Stephanopoulos) Meme: What is wrong with these Democrats?  We hand them the election on a silver platter and they just screw it up!Bush has had two good weeks - it's time to bring out the big guns and knock that fool down a peg Topics: Iraq Withdrawal?: In a pair of exclusive...

The Afghan Government is reportedly considering psychiatric treatment for a man who converted from Islam to Christianity, in a compromise that would see him spared the death penalty. Under Afghanistan's strict Sharia law, anyone who converts to another faith must revert to Islam or face the death penalty. Abdul Rahman, 41, became a Christian while living in Germany 16 years ago and returned to Afghanistan in 2002. He was arrested two weeks ago after his family complained to authorities. Afghan Economy Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang was quoted in the German newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger saying: "A judge has determined that Mr...

CIA's Haq cover-up is part of a pattern November 1, 2001BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Unnamed CIA officials flat out lied when they told reporters that the first they had heard from Abdul Haq was his futile plea to be saved from the Taliban fighters who surrounded him and then murdered him last Friday. That fits the pattern of deceit, arrogance and ignorance that describes the U.S. role in the murder of the legendary Afghan commander. Actually, the Central Intelligence Agency had been in contact with Haq's representatives since last February. It was not a congenial liaison. The CIA's reaction ...

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has asked Pakistan to extradite the captured chief spokesman of his country's ousted Taliban regime, Abdul Latif Hakimi. "We are very pleased to see that the Pakistani authorities have arrested this individual who is responsible for so many atrocities in Afghanistan," said. Hakimi has been the Taliban's spokesman since early 2004 and frequently spoke with the international media to claim responsibility for attacks on Afghan and US-led forces. Hakimi was arrested yesterday in Pakistan's south-western province of Baluchistan, which shares a long and rugged border with Afghanistan.

Newsweek's false account of a Koran being dumped in a toilet caused much damage to U.S. foreign policy. On May 20, the New York Times tried to do more damage. It devoted over 6000 words to the deaths of Afghans who had been in the custody of U.S. forces at Bagram Air Base on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. Seven people have been charged for alleged abuse of those described in the Times account. But that didn't stop reporter Tim Golden from including a lot of gratuitous details about the alleged abuse. The article was timed just before Afghan President...

Over the last few weeks, Afghanistan has been in the news again--unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. The media pack has made a brief reappearance in Afghanistan to report on carefully staged "spontaneous" riots, which briefly erupted around the country, ostensibly in protest over a report in Newsweek (later retracted) about desecration of Koran. Sadly, in the rush of commentary about Afghanistan's slide into anarchy and America's deteriorating position in Kabul, most of the international media again missed or downplayed many other stories, some of them arguably far more consequential than an antigovernment rampage whipped up by opponents of President...

Larry King aired a pre-taped interview with Vice President Dick Cheney on CNN this evening. On one segment, Cheney said that during Hamid Karzai's state visit to Washington, the first repurcussions of the false Newsweek "Koran desecration" at Gitmo story were being acted out in various locations in Afghanistan. Cheney quoted Karzai as having told him and President Bush that in Jalalabad in the northern part of his country, inflamed rioters attacked one of their own Afghan cultural centers and burned it to the ground. Inside of the cultural center there had been over 400 especially fine copies of the...

ON Saturday, May 14, several hundred people gathered in the windswept main street of Qalat, the capital of Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan. Led by local religious leaders, the crowd chanted slogans protesting the supposed desecration of the Koran by interrogators at the detention center run by the United States at Guantánamo Bay, as reported in the May 9 issue of Newsweek. Unlike protests widely covered in the news media, this one was peaceful and broke up after about an hour. And there lies a paradox: Zabul is one of the country's most conservative and anti-Western provinces. Only a few...

At the White House today, President Bush talked about embryo adoption and ethical stem cell research. The White House criticized as 'morally troubling' legislation that would loosen restrictions on government funding of embryonic stem cell research, ahead of a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, saying the legislation would overturn President Bush's 2001 policy, in which he allowed federal funding for stem cell research but limited it to 78 stem cell lines that existed prior to Bush's policy implementation. The president promoted Social Security reform in New York. The vice president met with Senators on Capitol Hill over the...

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he planned to ask U.S. President George W. Bush for long-termsecurity protection for Afghanistan. But in a joint news conference in Kabul, both he and visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sidestepped questions as to whetherthis would involve permanent U.S. bases. Asked if permanent U.S. bases were planned, Karzai said the Afghan people wanted "a longer-term relationship with the United States" after30 years of war and upheaval. "They want this relationship to be a wholesome one, including a sustained economic relationship, a political relationship and, most importantof all, a strategic...

18,000 Troop Push Aims to Convince Taliban to Accempt Amnesty About 18,000 American troops have started a winter long operation against the Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, vowing to eliminate insurgents who could threaten parliamentary elections in the spring.The US Military said Saturday that the new push, dubbed Operation Lightening Freedom, would convince insurgents to accept amnesty pushed by President Hamid Karzai and allow foreign troops to pull back.The operation was initated after Karzia's inaguaration Tuesday as the country's first democratically elected president. Maj Gen. Mark McCann gave no details of any significant moves against militant targets. 'It is basically designed...

WASHINGTON - It was a spring-like Monday morning here as Afghan leader Hamid Karzai watched a hastily sewn flag rise over the long-abandoned Afghan embassy. Much like Mr. Karzai's desperate nation, the dilapidated embassy is a testimony to neglect, with peeling paint, leaky roofs, sagging walls, and termites. Still, no one seemed to notice. Speaking of shared US-Afghan pain, partnership, and hope, Karzai dignified the moment. He seemed sincere, yet polished - even, some would say, chic. "Tie it well, Haron," said Karzai, looking on in a silver lamb's-wool cap, flowing tunic, and emerald cape as his chargé d'affairs ...

With the turquoise dome of the shrine to the 18th-century father of the Afghan nation rising in the background, Muhammad Akbar paused, leaned on his pick and said that he had never before been asked to dig a grave in the sacred soil of this compound. The grave was for Azimullah Muhammad, an 18-year-old who a week ago was an unknown seller of plastic water jugs from a dimly lit stall deep inside Kandahar's main bazaar. Now he is Afghanistan's newest hero, to be buried alongside mujahideen heroes of the guerilla war against the Soviet Union. On Friday, television viewers...