human rights should be the top of the agenda. the lack of basic human rights is one of the reasons why we're there in the first place. restrictions of human rights is what allows groups like the taliban to have so much control and influence
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i know there's been progress but why do we need to keep putting pressure on this government to stop sentencing people to death for such trivial things? do they not get it? they're wasting their court resources for bullshit. when they're sentencing a person to death for women's rights propaganda they can be convicting terrorists and acid throwers, etc.
Cheese eating surrender monkey! Just kidding.
Again, keep context in mind. We are not there to bring western style democracy to Afghanistan despite what various governments (both Liberal and Conservative) have said. Our national interest lies in a democratic Afghanistan because it's less likely to harbour anti-western groups and more likely to remain stable. In as far as human rights are concerned, promoting them, together with a sound justice system are in our interests because they ensure the stability and cohesion of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious (various versions of Islam) state. To that end we are doing things like training judges, prosecutors, corrections staff, etc. But these things take time. Imagine building our present justice system from scratch. But keep in mind, this is also a muslim country with its own legal codes and constitutions (written without western interference). So they will have rules, norms and penalties different from what we would tolerate. Should we overrule them just because we don't like their rules. I don't believe so. That would make us Imperialists. If we are going to impose that standard on Afghanistan, we had better be willing to hold the rest of the 1.5 billion residents Muslim world up to the same standard.
I would say that patience will win the day. Canada has undertaken similar judicial reforms efforts elsewhere and we have had success. It takes time though. In China, CIDA has had success with judicial reforms at the local level. In areas where CIDA has mentored they no longer hand out death sentences like candy and corruption has gone down, etc. Afghanistan is no better or worse. It'll come with time. It took something like a decade or more to achieve the progress we did in China. And they are still far from perfect. It's unfair to expect Afghanistan to become a western style paragon of human rights over night when the folks there are more concerned with day to day survival than media freedoms, women's rights, gay rights, religious freedoms, etc.
and what's this on the news about wanting to reach out to moderate taliban members? what exactly is a moderate taliban? one who attacks women with a weaker acid?
There's a lot of folks who get labelled 'Taliban' who are really just local warlords who have sided with the Taliban for various personal interests, ie. Political power, business interests, etc. They have no real interest in the Taliban's extremist agenda. These are people who can be swayed. There are efforts underway to give some of these folks amnesty, help work out their issues (ie where appropriate help protect some of their influence and/or business interests), and to help them turn away from growing poppies. Ie. Pursue alternative and lucrative crops.
The western media does a poor job of conveying the picture in Afghanistan. Anybody who shoots at NATO gets labelled Taliban. The reality is far more complex. Warlords, drug barons, various ethnic clans all have their own interests and reason to or not to cooperate with the Afghan government (and their subcontracted security provider, NATO). Peeling some of those folks away where compromise is possible, would dramatically weaken the Taliban. And trust me, this is an effort the Taliban is trying very, very hard to prevent coming to fruition. Get this right and we've won the war.
Before anyone misinterprets what I've written here. This does not mean that we compromise on our principles. This means working to accommodate concerns of individuals and groups where possible. For example, we have persuaded warlords to disarm by giving them satellite phones and direct access to a heliborne quick reaction force that flies out to protect them in case of a Taliban attack. That's one example, but there are many, many ways we can win people over. The first step is dropping the labels imposed by the western media.
