Afghanistan in the balance

[dcentity2000]

Is it just me or are things in Afghanistan other than we would have hoped having freed them from the Taleban?

The Taleban were religiously fanatical conservatives who held on to the country with an iron grip, justified in the name of a religion.

I thought that we had freed the country from this.

Yet things seem to be very similar all these years on.

Afghan on trial for Christianity

An Afghan man is being tried in a court in the capital, Kabul, for converting from Islam to Christianity.
Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants.

He converted 16 years ago as an aid worker helping refugees in Pakistan. His estranged family denounced him in a custody dispute over his two children.

It is thought to be Afghanistan's first such trial, reflecting tensions between conservative clerics and reformists.

Conservatives still dominate the Afghan judiciary four years after the Taleban were overthrown.

He's now been "freed" under suspicion of "mental problems" following huge pressure from the international community. However, he is not free in the conventional sense of the word - his case is being reviewed for flaws in the evidence. It is doubtful that he will escape their clutches.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan has been shooting Pakistanis. Afghanistan claimed that they were Taleban fighters - Pakistan claimed that they were on a religious trek and posed no risk whatsoever.

Dead Pakistanis 'were innocent'

Pakistan says 16 of its nationals travelling in Afghanistan were arrested and then killed by Afghan security forces.
A Pakistani embassy spokesman in Kabul told the BBC that the men "were innocent Pakistani civilians".

The Afghan foreign ministry said on Thursday the dead were all "Taleban... from Pakistan".

The Afghan authorities say they are investigating the deaths, reported near the border town of Spin Boldak.

The dispute over the killings comes as relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan over cross-border security have worsened.

...

Many are openly accusing the Afghan security forces of murdering innocent Pakistani nationals in cold blood and later justifying the act by calling them Taleban fighters.

Senior officials in Islamabad say it has now been established beyond doubt that all those killed were Pakistani citizens and that they were killed by the Afghan security forces.

It just strikes me as if Afghanistan has had a fundamentalist government replaced at great cost with another fundamentalist government.

Sucks.



Rich::