No sex, No Food- Afghan President Hamid Karzai enacts barbaric marriage law

Shiite Muslim Afghan women have been thrown to the dogs for political gain by President Hamid Karzai who surreptitiously enacted a marriage law that states, in essence, that Shiite men can starve their wives if they refuse their husbands sex. A marriage law that Karzai attempted to enact back in March 2009, was dropped after the world balked at what basically gave Shiite men the right to rape their wives.

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A revised version was publicized in July, and though female activists found it still far too restrictive, Karzai managed to find a way to push the law through anyway, without input from female parliamentarians who would have, obviously, fought for changes. Though the "rape" clause was removed

The new law includes a section saying that a husband must provide financially for his wife. It also says that he can withhold this support if she refuses to "submit to her husband's reasonable sexual enjoyment," according to a translation of the article supplied by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

It's obvious Karzai needs the support of the Shiites and is willing to sacrifice women's rights for votes. Not that women have many rights in Afghanistan, particularly Shiite women who still need to ask permission to work. The new law also grants

guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers. It requires women to get permission from their husbands to work. It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying “blood money” to a girl who was injured when he raped her.

It's appalling that Karzai, who is considered a moderate, would give in to fundamentalist factions to remain in power a little longer. But what's even more repellent is the fact that a government enacts laws that dictate how citizens conduct their personal lives, and worse yet, that the laws treat women like animals.