É tão fácil falar

Eminent Afghan and international figures had encouraged citizens to defy the Taliban and vote in the elections. Yet, as a casualty in the process, Mr Mohammed and his friends say he has received no official support (On his way to the polling station he was held by Taliban fighters, beaten brutally, and then had his nose and ears slashed off.).

Mr Mohammed said his family had borrowed 20,000 Afghanis (around £250) from a local money lender to tide them over and buy medicine for him in the capital, Kabul.

"We have to pay back 40,000 Afghanis in three months," he said. "I do not know how we are going to do that, I think we will have to sell things. I do not know when I'll work again.

"Poor people suffer in this country, I do not know whether the elections will change that. I do not think I will try to vote again, I am now very frightened."

Tirado daqui.

Afeganistao: o feminino

The woman who defied the Taliban, and paid with her life, Kim Segupta, The Independent

'The small advances women have made are now being wiped out', Leonard Doyle, The Independent

Afeganistao: em perdimento

The Taliban have regained control over the southern half of Afghanistan and their front line is advancing daily, a group closely monitoring the Afghan situation said in a report this week. [...]

"We are seeing a humanitarian disaster," said Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Senlis Council [an international policy think-tank with offices in Kabul, London, Paris and Brussels.]. "There are around Kandahar now camps with people starving, kids dying almost every day, and this is obviously used by the Taliban to regain the confidence of the people, and to regain control of the country."

The poppy-eradication program has been a disaster, he said. "It is a direct attack on the livelihood of the farmers, so there is a clear connection between the eradication and this humanitarian crisis. All this is being used by the Taliban to say ... 'When we were there we were maybe hard and cruel, but you could feed the family; now look what's going on.' They are more and more providing support [and] social services to the local population." [...]

Hunger is leading to anger, the report says, adding that lack of funding from the international community means the Afghan government and the United Nations World Food Program are unable to address Afghanistan's hunger crisis. "Despite appeals for aid funds, the US-led international community has continued to direct the majority of aid funds towards military and security operations." [...]

The rise of the Taliban is rapid, he said. "You cannot make peace with the real command of the Taliban. We have to attack the root cause of the growing power of the Taliban, which is poverty [and] the counter-narcotics policy. We have to cut the Taliban from their base so that they will become what they were five years ago, a very small group of isolated terrorists. That's not the case anymore. Now they are a large part of the population because of the failure of the development policy."

Reinert said: "In a year we will have a situation where the legitimacy of the Kabul government will be weakened to a point where [it] will not be able to [keep] the country together."


Sanjay Suri, Asia Times Online, 8 de Setembro

Afeganistao: o feminino infantil

A Ghulam Haider, de 11 anos, vai casar com Faiz Mohammed, de 40. Ela queria ser professora, mas quando ficou noiva foi forcada a desistir da escola.


A Majabin Mohammed, de 13 anos, senta-se 'a esquerda do seu marido, Mohammed Fazal, 45, juntamente com a sua primeira mulher e filho. A Majabin foi dada em casamento em pagamento de uma divida de jogo.

As raparigas sao trabalhadoras valiosas numa terra em que a sobrevivencia e' arrepanhada de meio acre de solo [1 acre = 0.4 ha]. Em casa do marido o seu valor e' ainda maior. Podem ter sexo e filhos.

Fotografias e texto obtidas em pop-up no sitio do "The New York Times". Traducao minha.

Nota: ha' umas duas semanas escrevi um texto sobre a minha posicao sobre a poligamia. Este e' um exemplo a corroborar o meu negativismo.

Itália deu asilo ao afegao cristao

ROME - The Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity received asylum in Italy Wednesday, despite requests by lawmakers in
Afghanistan that he be barred from fleeing the conservative Muslim country.

Abdul Rahman arrived in Rome days after he was freed from a high-security prison on the outskirts of Kabul after a court dropped charges of apostasy against him for lack of evidence and suspected mental illness.

No Yahoo News

Afegão cristão livre por agora

O juiz que preside ao caso do homem afegão que enfrenta a pena de morte por se ter convertido ao cristianismo suspendeu o processo, afirmando que o caso tinha falhas e enviou-o de novo para o Ministério Público. Abdul Rahman poderá assim ser já hoje libertado, enquanto se espera a revisão da acusação, segundo a Associated Press.

(...)

O caso de Rahman causou indignação nos países com tropas no Afeganistão, que têm pressionado o Presidente Hamid Karzai a intervir no caso. O sistema judicial afegão é baseado numa mistura entre a sharia e a lei civil - mas o judiciário é dominado por conservadores que gostariam de ver uma condenação. Uma das maneiras de evitar uma embaraçosa condenação sem desagradar por completo aos conservadores seria declarar Rahman mentalmente instável.

Abdul Rahman já disse que está de perfeita saúde, [e afirmou] afirmando-se mesmo disposto a sofrer o castigo da pena de morte pela sua nova fé. Rahman afirmou ainda que será ele próprio a encarregar-se da sua defesa, já que não conseguiu encontrar um advogado disposto a fazê-lo. Recusa ainda sair do país se isso for uma condição para ser libertado.

Hoje no Público (artigo com subscrição)

Inquisição hoje no Afeganistão

Excertos de artigo da BBC:

Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants.

Afghanistan's post-Taleban constitution is based on Sharia law, and prosecutors in the case says this means Abdul Rahman, whose trial began last Thursday, should be put to death.

"We will invite him again because the religion of Islam is one of tolerance. We will ask him if he has changed his mind. If so we will forgive him," the judge told the BBC on Monday.

But if he refused to reconvert, then his mental state would be considered first before he was dealt with under Sharia law, the judge added.

Mr Karzai's office says the president will not intervene in the case.

Observers say executing a converted Christian would be a significant precedent as a conservative interpretation of Sharia law in Afghanistan.

But it would also outrage Western nations which put Mr Karzai in power and are pouring billions of dollars into supporting the country.

Via The religious policeman, que eu aconselho vivamente a visitar.