New Afghan Law: Husbands are Legally Allowed to Rape Wives

Veiled Women of Afghanistan

Here’s a real life example of a serious FML moment: Afghanistan just passed legislation stating that men can rape their wives. Unfortunately, this is true, and the world we live in is still under the impression that women aren’t qualified enough to have their human rights protected. FML, FML, FML! (Sadly, this statement can be taken literally.)

This law obviously sabotages progress made in the women’s rights division after the fall of the Taliban’s regime. Its intention is to “regulate family life inside Afghanistan’s Shiite community.” It doesn’t affect Afghan Sunnis.

Article 132 of the law says, “As long as the husband is not traveling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night. Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.”

The More Things Change…

Well, Blog-Master Liam has demanded a second post this week and as I have been unable to gnaw through my leg where I am chained to my desk, a winner is you!

Thusly, we return to Afghanistan, “The Graveyard of Empires,” as it has become chic to declare. As Tom Engelhardt pointed out earlier this month, this idea has actually been getting some play recently in mainstream liberal circles. Engelhardt is also probably right that this peculiar state of psychology amongst our ruling class, namely doubt, probably has its roots in the collapse of the Soviet Union, which left America sans its favorite bête noire.

To Waziristan With Love

Obama and Hillary on their latest diplomatic foray.

Well, I was planning to start off with a bang, delivering a hard-hitting Israel/Palestine post. Don’t get me wrong, no one loves wild speculation more that me, but since a prime minister has yet to be picked, I’ll refrain from commenting at the moment.

So then, let us turn to an equally cheery place: Afghanistan and Pakistan (or ‘Af-Pak’ in beltway-insider lingo, where people seem to be under the impression that everything proper-noun should be contracted until it sounds like an Apple product).