There is a real danger that an odious piece of legislation in Afghanistan that would legalize rape within marriage, and otherwise treat women as chattel, will convince Western governments and their publics that the war against the Taliban is not one worth fighting. Is it for this, some people may reasonably ask, that the lives of young Canadian soldiers, and those from allied countries, are being sacrificed? In a word: No.
While the emancipation of women in Afghanistan was one happy byproduct of the war, it was not the reason for it. The Taliban's murderous, fundamentalist regime played host to al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan as a safe haven to plot terrorist attacks against Western countries. It was not for the advancement of Afghan women that the war was launched. The effort to rid the world of the Taliban was a matter of self-interest.
There is no doubt that this piece of family law, directed at the minority Shia population of Afghanistan, will diminish the perceived differences between the Taliban, with their grotesque misogyny and human-rights record, and the government of President Hamid Karzai. Canada and its allies must use their influence to discourage Mr. Karzai, who signed the legislation into law in February. But even with this law, the gap between what the democratic, if imperfect, government in Kabul and the Taliban stand for is still dramatic.
Indeed, it is democracy, or at least democratic politics, that appears to be behind President Karzai's support for this law, which is backed by Shia clerics and political parties. The President is risking the wrath of his Western sponsors, opponents argue, in order to cultivate Shia support in forthcoming elections. Women's rights are to be sacrificed, then, in the name of democratic expediency. It is not what Western countries had in mind when they encouraged the establishment of democratic institutions in Afghanistan. Every effort must be taken to undo the damage this law has caused and to ensure that family laws currently being drafted for the Sunni majority respect women's equality. At the end of the day, however, Afghan laws are decided by Afghanistan's elected lawmakers.
