The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the new regime in Afghanistan will retain the Islamic law code that the Taliban adhered to, but will apply it more moderately.
The source for this is Afghanistan’s new Justice Minister, Abdul Rahim Karimi, who the Herald quotes as saying, “People would not understand if we get rid of it.”
This is actually a moderate view considering that chief Afghanistan Judge Ahamat Ullha Zarif recently said that the new government would continue the Taliban practice of public executions and amputations. Karimi seems to want to step back from that saying, “How can you cut off the hand of a man who has nothing to eat? We must first feed the people and give them a livelihood.”
The reality is that what is that the new government in Afghanistan is likely to eventually resemble Saudi Arabia, with its moderation from the Taliban one of degree more than anything else.
The United States is thus faced with exactly the same problem it faced at conclusion of the successful campaign to expel the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Who do you support (and how much) in a country where all the politically viable factions have cultural practices and views which are alien to what the overwhelming majority of Americans (not to mention U.S. law) find acceptable?
Source:
Stone me! The law’s gone soft. Agence-France Presse, December 29, 2001.