Critics: Afghan law allows spousal rape
KABUL, Afghanistan - A new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives, human-rights groups and Afghan lawmakers said yesterday, accusing President Hamid Karzai of signing the legislation to bolster his reelection prospects.
KABUL, Afghanistan - A new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives, human-rights groups and Afghan lawmakers said yesterday, accusing President Hamid Karzai of signing the legislation to bolster his reelection prospects.
Critics worry that the legislation undermines hard-won rights for women enacted after the fall of the Taliban's strict Islamist regime.
The United States is "very concerned" about the law, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said yesterday. "We urge President Karzai to review the law's legal status to correct provisions of the law that limit or restrict women's rights."
The law, which some lawmakers say was never debated in parliament, is intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan's Shiite community, which makes up about 20 percent of this country of 30 million. The law does not affect Afghan Sunnis.
One of the most controversial articles stipulates the wife "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires."
"As long as the husband is not traveling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night," Article 132 of the law says. "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."
One provision also appears to protect the woman's right to sex inside marriage, saying the "man should not avoid having sexual relations with his wife longer than once every four months."
The law's critics say Karzai signed the legislation in the last month only for political gains as he heads into the country's presidential election later this year.
20 Militants Killed In U.S. Air Strike
Afghan and U.S. coalition troops battled a large group of militants in southern Afghanistan before calling in an air strike that killed 20 insurgents, officials
said yesterday.
The insurgents attacked
a foot patrol in Helmand province's Kajaki district Wednesday. A series of clashes in that region Tuesday killed 31 militants.
Violence in Afghanistan
is expected to surge this year. The United States is sending 21,000 additional forces to bolster 38,000 American troops already in the country. U.S. military officials are seeking up to 10,000 more troops.
- Associated Press
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