10 years ago the United States began its invasion of Afghanistan and now according to a recent United Nations (UN) report the country is experiencing the highest number of political asylum requests of the last decade.

According to the report more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum from January 2011 through November 2011, that’s a 25% increase over the same period in 2010.

One 20-year-old Afghan resident who was attempting to flee into Europe from Iran told the Associated Press:

“I don’t think anything will improve in three or five years, so it’s better to leave now,” while adding, “If foreign troops leave, the situation will only get worse, not better.”

In the meantime it’s believed that numbers may be far higher because of the $1 billion per year human smuggling business that has emerged in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For a few hundred dollars citizens of Afghanistan can enter Iran or Pakistan, while $25,000 will earn them false papers and a flight to various countries including Sweden and England. The number of illegal refugees is hard to determine since they often sink into the underground economy and become nearly impossible to track.

In that same UN report numbers show that less refugees are returning to the country on a yearly basis and Afghan officials worry that those numbers will continue to deteriorate as American and NATO troops hand security of the country over to the Afghan army and police in 2014.

Are you surprised to learn that citizens in terrorist friendly countries are attempting to flee for better living conditions in various other parts of the world?

Afghanistan Losing An Increasing Number Of Citizens To Asylum is a post from: The Inquisitr

Private Danny Chen, 19, was found dead in a guard tower with an apparent “self-inflicted” gunshot wound in early October. Following prompting by Chen’s family, an army investigation was launched and news surfaced that Chen, from New York City’s Chinatown, had been the victim of physical and mental abuse from his fellow soldiers.

The NY Times reports:

“The accused soldiers were all members of the Third Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, First Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. Five of them, Staff Sgt. Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb, Sgt. Jeffrey T. Hurst, Specialist Thomas P. Curtis and Specialist Ryan J. Offutt, were charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and assault consummated by battery, among other crimes, the statement said. Lt. Daniel J. Schwartz, the only officer among the eight defendants, was charged with dereliction of duty… Sgt. Travis F. Carden was charged with assault and maltreatment, and Staff Sgt. Blaine G. Dugas was charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement.”

After learning of the charges, Chen’s family said in a news conference they were encouraged by results of the investigation.

“We realize that Danny will never return, but it gives us some hope,” said Yen Tao Chen, Danny’s father, speaking through a translator.

While the U.S. Army, which unsealed the charges today, declined to give more details on Private Danny Chen’s death or to clarify whether they believe it was indeed a suicide, they did reveal that they plan to meet with Pentagon officials January 4.

In the meantime, the soldiers in question have been transferred and relieved of their duties.

via NY Times

Private Danny Chen: 8 US Troops Charged in Death of Fellow GI is a post from: The Inquisitr

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai says he won’t meet with Taliban insurgents to discuss a peace treaty until a clear leader with authority to negotiate comes froward.

During a Sunday interview with CNN Karzai said the September assassination of former President Burhanuddin Rabban occurred after he attempted to meet with the Taliban leadership only to realize he was “actually talking to nobody.”

According to Karzai:

“A man who came in the name of a messenger for peace turned out to be a suicide bomber,” and “Therefore, we have now clearly said that we will welcome a Taliban address, but that address must have the clarity that this representative is authorized and is representing the Taliban movement as we see it.”

Karzai furthered his message by calling for Pakistani involvement in peace negotiations:

“Because we all know that the Taliban have their places there,” Karzai said. “They operate from there. And a meaningful peace process cannot go well or end in satisfactory results without Pakistan’s participation and help.”

Afghanistan and U.S. Troops managed to destroy much of the Taliban stronghold in the country after the U.S. invasion however the group quickly formed into a guerrilla movement bent on attacking U.S. and Afghan troops and government officials.

A peace accord is important for the Afghanistan president with troops expected to withdraw from the region in 2014. As Karzai has pointed out, political stability has been achieved with the help of international allies but “personal security” for individual citizens has “yet to come.”

Do you believe the Taliban can reach any sort of “peace accord” with any country they occupy?

Hamid Karzai Won’t Hold Peace Talks Until Clear Taliban Leader Comes Forward is a post from: The Inquisitr

Conservationists were not aware that the Persian Leopard still roamed the mountains of Afghanistan. But a series of a photographs taken from a camera trap give indisputable evidence that the large predator is still living in the region.

A series of photographs show an adult Persian Leopard as it inspects, then threatens, a camera hidden in the Hindu Kush highlands.

Ghani Ghuriani, Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, said that the presence of a large predator, like the Persian Leopard, ”means that the rangelands can still support ibex, urial, and other species, which is a good sign for both wildlife and the people of this region who also depend on these grasslands for grazing.”

MSNBC reports that the Persian Leopard isn’t the only rare animal that has been photographed by camera traps. The Wildlife Conservation Society has snapped photos of a lynx, a stone marten, a red fox, and other wild cats. Unfortunately, the cameras have also captured poachers.

Deputy director of WCS’s Asia program, Peter Zahler, said:

“We are thrilled by these images and the story of survival that they tell, but we were sobered by the fact that the cameras also took photographs of local people walking past with guns. Poaching is still a very real threat, and WCS is committed to helping the Afghan government and local communities protect these rare and beautiful animals.”

Yahoo! reports that the WCS and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have been helping the Afghanistan Government to launch initiatives aimed at protecting its wildlife. The country has created its first ever list of protected species and opened its first national park, Band-e-Amir, in 2009.

Rare Persian Leopard Caught on Film is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to eyewitnesses, the blast occurred at around 11:45 a.m. local time when hundreds of mourners were observing in a shrine the 10-day annual Ashura mourning rite, the holiest of the Shiite religious calendar, which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in 680 AD.

“The enemies tried to spread fear in this important holiday in the city,” police official Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai explained to CNN.

Afghan Health Ministry spokesman Kargar Norughli said that some hospitals in the area are overwhelmed with the number of wounded and that the death toll could only be expected to rise.

“Many others who were killed or injured are shifted to military hospitals, as we know, but there is no exact figure of those killed and wounded with our office,” Kargar said, adding “the latest and final figure of the casualties will be released to media very soon.”

The attacks, which no group or individual has claimed responsibility for thus far, came a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that the Taliban could make a comeback as the country struggles with security a decade after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the hardline militia from power.

“If we lose this fight, we are threatened with a return to a situation like that before September 11, 2001,” Karazai told an international aid conference in Bonn, Germany.

via CNN News
Image: Guardian

Suicide Bomber Attacks Shi’ite Shrine in Kabul, Killing 58 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Author’s and publishers will go to great lengths to publicize their books, even to the point of shipping a box of them to soldiers in Afghanistan it seems, the problem is that sometimes those books aren’t exactly what the soldiers need.

Such is the case recently when someone decided it would be a great idea to send some American soldiers stationed in some remote outpost of Afghanistan a box of Bill O’Reilly’s new book Pinheads and Patriots instead of something that they might actually need.

As one soldier said on their blog “some jerk sent us two boxes of this awful book instead of anything soldiers at a remote outpost might need, say, like, foo or soap”.

It turns out that their commanding officer figured that the books would be better served by warming up the soldiers and order them to burn the books, which apparently they gladly did.

No word on who was the thoughtful person who sent the books in the first place but just an idea for those of you thinking of doing something similar .. maybe include a chocolate bar or two instead.

via Gawker

Bill O’Reilly’s book makes better kindling than reading in Afghanistan is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to a recent study released by the US Geological Survey, Afghanistan may be home to massive rare earth element deposits containing about 1.5 million metric tons worth of rare earth material.

By the USGS’s estimates, Afghanistan’s rare earth element reserves could amount to up to $1 trillion worth of the precious materials. According to chemical analysis on rock samples near the deposits, the concentration of the rare earth materials could rival China’s largest deposit.

“I fully expect that our estimates are conservative. With more time, and with more people doing proper exploration, it could become a major, major discovery,” said USGS scientist Robert Tucker.

Eklil Hakimi, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., told Bloomberg in an email that USGS’s new data may be invaluable in securing additional foreign investment in the region.

“Afghanistan has modern hydrocarbon laws and mining laws, favorable to investors,” Hakimi said. “I believe that the key to peace in Afghanistan lies in our mineral resources because lasting security and stability is dependent on the amount of economic opportunity available to Afghans.”

Regina Dubey, acting director of Defense Department’s task force for business and stability operations, echoed Hakimi’s statements about the potential boost to Afghanistan’s economy, saying, “The mineral resources in Afghanistan have the potential to completely transform the nation’s economy.”

In addition to a high volume of rare earth elements, Afghanistan also contains a considerable amount of gold, iron, and copper, according to the USGS.

Sources: USGS, Bloomberg

[Image: UPI/Hossein Fatemi]

Rare earth element deposits in Afghanistan could transform economy is a post from: The Inquisitr

Cpl. Dakota Meyer was not supposed to drive repeatedly into a firefight with insurgents in Afghanistan on September 8th, 2009- but his high school football coach says the young man was always a kid who sought to discover “how far he can push the envelope.”

Cpl. Meyer defied orders on that day, risking and expecting death as he drove headlong into danger, unwilling and unable to allow his friends to remain unprotected in the battle. He recalls his expectation that he would not survive defiance of “orders to stay put” on what he describes as the “worst day of his life” in an interview:

“I don’t think there was ever a question in my mind if I was going to die… It was just when.”

In fact, Cpl. Meyer did not defy orders once- he did it five times, ultimately rescuing 23 Afghan troops and 13 of his fellow American soldiers. USA Today describes the chaos into which the brave young man headed:

Inside the narrow valley, Taliban insurgents were dug into the high ground and hidden inside a village, pouring down deadly fire at Afghan forces and their American advisers. Armed militants swarmed the low ground to try to finish off the troops… Meyer’s team was pinned down near the village. He wasn’t going to wait and see whether they would get out… Meyer set himself in the turret of a Humvee and rode straight into the firefight, taking fire from all directions.

Meyer, who said he couldn’t “sit back and watch” his buddies get slaughtered, explained that he put himself in harm’s way so many times simply because his “best friends were in there getting shot at” during the 2009 incident. In addition to saving 36 people from the dangerous firefight, the Marine also transported out four of the bodies of fellow soldiers who did not survive the incident- Marines 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, 25, Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson, 31, Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 30 and Navy Corpsman 3rd Class James Layton, 22. The four fallen men were found in a ditch, out of ammunition and stripped of radios and other equipment.

Cpl. Dakota Meyer is set to be awarded the honor for bravery by President Obama on September 15th, and is the third living Medal of Honor recipient following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cpl. Dakota Meyer Receives Medal of Honor For Saving 36 is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to CNN, the casualties included 25 Navy SEALs, 22 of which belonged to SEAL Team 6, the elite unit that carried out the raid in Pakistan this spring that killed Osama bin Laden.

Although none of the specific individuals on the raid against the Al Qaeda leader were on the helicopter that went down, the casualties are a major blow for the close-knit and secretive unit only months after it carried out the greatest victory in its history.

In addition to the 31 Americans, officials said that there were seven Afghan army soldiers and a canine on the helicopter.

Despite the fact that the Taliban have claimed to have shot the helicopter down, U.S. officials have only identified the attackers as insurgents.

“They wanted to attack our mujahideen who were in a house, but our mujahideen resisted and destroyed a helicopter with a RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rocket,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Saturday’s deaths bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan to 334 this year, according to the Associated Press.

Following the devastating loss, President Obama offered his condolences to the families of the Americans and Afghans who died in the attack.

“Their death is a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifice made by the men and women of our military and their families,” Obama said. We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied.”

Here is a clip covering the story courtesy of ABC News:

via CNN
Image Source: Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press

25 Navy SEALs Killed in NATO Helicopter Crash is a post from: The Inquisitr

Adorable Marines in Afghanistan lip-sync to Britney Spears’ “Hold It Against Me,” adorably.

[via Fark]

[Video] Marines in Afghanistan do video for Britney Spears’ ‘Hold It Against Me’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

The above image is of a normal town in Afghanistan called Tarok Kolache when it was seeing better days even though it was, according to American forces, overrun by Taliban insurgents.

After they had failed in two previous attempts to clear the town of the Taliban the US forces, led by Lt. Col. David Flynn; commander of Combined Joint Task Force 1-320th, decided that they needed to bomb the Taliban out of the town.

The only problem is that in the process they totally demolished the town of Tarok Kolache. In fact it no longer exists as you can see by the images below.

According to a post at Danger Room the head honchos are so happy with the results that they are okaying this type of thing for bigger operations

Broadwell writes that the operation is ultimately a success, quoting Flynn as saying “As of today, more of the local population talks to us and the government than talk to the Taliban.” That appears to be good enough for higher command. Petraeus, having visited the village and allowing Flynn to personally approve reconstruction projects worth up to $1 million, told his commanders in the south to “take a similar approach to what 1-320th was doing on a grander scale as it applies to the districts north of Arghandab.”

Ever wonder what 25 tons of bombs do to a town? is a post from: The Inquisitr

The original post of these photographs of a village made up of caves said they were located in Afghanistan but a quick search on Bing shows that it is actually a village in Iran called Kandovan. Regardless of where it is I still think that they are really interesting and shows how resourceful human beings can be.

Osama Bin Laden isn’t the only cave dweller in Afghanistan is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you’ve read a story about Medal of Honor over the past few months, chances are it had something to do with the inclusion of playable Taliban fighters.

The storm of controversy around this design decision has provided publisher EA with plenty of free publicity for its game. Newspaper editorials have frothed, and misinformed politicians have waded in, all sounding suitably outraged.

Throughout this tiresome debate, I’ve been proud of EA for sticking by their guns and saying they wouldn’t drop the Taliban. After all, why should EA bow to pressure? Plenty of films have portrayed ongoing conflicts and attracted very little criticism. Why, I reasoned, should games be treated more harshly?

Well, scratch that, because EA just caved. In the final build of the game, the Taliban faction will be known as ‘Opposing Forces’. On the game’s official blog, executive producer Greg Goodrich explains the decision was taken in response to feedback from soldiers and their families:

“In the past few months, we have received feedback from all over the world regarding the multiplayer portion of Medal of Honor. We’ve received notes from gamers, active military, and friends and family of servicemen and women currently deployed overseas. The majority of this feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. For this, the Medal of Honor team is deeply appreciative. However, we have also received feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers who have expressed concern over the inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer portion of our game. This is a very important voice to the Medal of Honor team. This is a voice that has earned the right to be listened to. It is a voice that we care deeply about.”

That said, I can’t help but feel EA has milked this situation for as long as it realistically could, to maximise the hype it gained. Or perhaps I’m just a big Mr. Cynical Pants.

[Via MedalofHonor.com]

EA chickens out: Playable Taliban dropped from new Medal of Honor is a post from: The Inquisitr

UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox has stated that stores should refuse to stock the forthcoming Medal of Honor (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) because the game allows players to kill British troops as the Taliban.

The first-person shooter is out in October, but has already caught the attention of the media for its inclusion of the Taliban as playable characters. Fox is the first truly big political name (in the UK, at least) to wade in. Here’s what he had to say:

“It’s shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban. At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. I am disgusted and angry. It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.”

Even though I find the Taliban to be reprehensible in many ways, I find Fox’s views utterly bizarre and blinkered. Here is a man who believes a simple videogame has some tangible link with real life, as though by shooting a polygonal figure on a screen people are somehow indoctrinated with the Taliban’s own warped ideology, or are making a statement about their allegiances in a real war.

Furthermore, isn’t it terribly strange that Fox is resorting to censorship, a popular tactic of – yes! – the Taliban? Perhaps that kind of arrogance comes easily to a man who thinks he can tell everybody else what it is to be “un-British”.

I don’t think Medal of Honor‘s nose is completely clean – perhaps there’s something to be said about publisher EA’s decision to exploit an existing war for profit – but Fox’s assertions are from Bizarroland.

For what it’s worth, EA offered the following response, and it’s one I can only applaud:

“The format of the new Medal of Honor game merely reflects the fact that every conflict has two sides. We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven: someone plays the cop, someone must be robber. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone’s got to be the Taliban.”

Well, exactly.

[Via Eurogamer]

UK politician demands Medal of Honor ban for “un-British” game is a post from: The Inquisitr

Medal of Honor multiplayer betas kicked off yesterday on the PlayStation 3 and PC, but those wanting to play it on Xbox 360 are, for reasons unknown, in for a wait.

The game’s official blog announced a delay for the Xbox 360 version and apologized, though didn’t elaborate on details, such as why the beta was delayed, or when we can expect the beta to be up and running:

“To the Xbox 360 community, we say thank you for your continued patience. We are working to fix the issues that have caused this delay and, like you, we’re eager to get the game up and running at quality. As soon as we do, you’ll be the first to know. We can’t wait to hear your response to the game – feedback which will also certainly help ensure the game exceeds expectations when we ship this Fall. When the Medal of Honor beta does arrive on the Xbox 360, it will be open to Xbox 360 players who’ve pre-ordered the game and we will extend the beta to ensure all players have ample time to play and provide feedback for the final product. So stay tuned for an update. We hope to bring you some good news soon.”

Sucks, but hey, here’s a new-ish multiplayer trailer to pacify your RAGE:

[MOH blog, via VG247]

Medal of Honor Xbox 360 beta delayed is a post from: The Inquisitr

EA’s forthcoming blockbuster first-person shooter and BEARDFEST Medal of Honor will be on sale in the U.S. on October 12, with Europe getting the game on October 15.

It’s coming out on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and will no doubt be aiming to topple current shooter king, Modern Warfare 2. The game will be set in modern-day Afghanistan, a break from the franchise’s past, which has usually focused on conflicts from history.

To celebrate its newly announced release date, EA conjured up a new trailer. Typically, there’s no gameplay on display. Do modern game trailers even feature gameplay any more? Or just this mushy trying-to-be-a-film-so-hard-it-hurts nonsense? Anyway, uh, here it is:

[Via press release]

[VIDEO] Medal of Honor gets release date, new trailer is a post from: The Inquisitr

The latest Medal of Honor game  – which, let’s face it, is EA’s attempt to take on the all-conquering Modern Warfare 2 – is looking jolly tasty. Even more pleasingly, these new shots of the game contain some of the epic beards promised by the boxart. I’m looking forward to future beardy updates.

In case you need reminding, Medal of Honor sees you filling the boots of a Tier 1 Operative (the “most disciplined, deliberate and prepared warrior on the battlefield, a living, breathing, precision instrument of war”). With a beard.

It’s also a bit stealthy, because you’ll have to use disguises (perhaps other beards) when meeting informants, something that featured in the very first Medal of Honor game used over a decade ago (except there it was to bypass suspicious German soldiers, and there was an embarrassing shortage of beards).

Perhaps controversially, this one is set in Afghanistan, which may leave it open to accusations of exploiting a legally questionable ongoing confli – BUT HEY LOOK PRETTY GRAPHICS. Expect this between July and September 2010 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Beards.

[Via press release]

Medal of Honor looking nice, not totally unlike that other modern warfare game is a post from: The Inquisitr

Videogames set in World War II? They’re so 2000 – 2008 (well, roughly speaking).

All the cool kids are currently setting their first-person shooter games in the now. It’s not hard to see why. The roaring success of the two Modern Warfare games has made it clear that consumers are quite up for a bit of, well, modern warfare.

Because of that, EA has revealed that the next Medal of Honor game will be the first title in the series that isn’t set in the Second World War – instead, you’ll be fighting in present-day Afghanistan. Exploiting ongoing conflicts of questionable worth and legality? Yep, that’ll be videogames!

It’s out in 2010 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, and will focus on Tier 1 Operators – or “the most disciplined, deliberate and prepared warrior on the battlefield. He is a living, breathing, precision instrument of war” as EA’s press release puts it. And according to the box (above), they have some kickass beardage going on.

So is this the end of the “World War II videogame” craze that has run for longer than the war itself? God, I hope so. Is this the beginning of a new, decade-long obsession with modern wars? I’m rather afraid it is.

[Via press release]

EA craves some of Modern Warfare’s pie, new Medal of Honor set in Afghanistan is a post from: The Inquisitr

Professional jerk-off “military analyst” and retired Army colonel Ralph Peters, appearing on a Fox News show, tripped a collective WTF wire when he suggested the Taliban should just off captured US Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl and “save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.” Oh, bitch, you did NOT.

And why exactly should this young man who is serving our country in Afghanistan be treated so callously? Well he “might be” a deserter. Or something like that. Of the maybe sorta kinda I heard desertion accusation, Peters said:

“…on that video, he is collaborating with the enemy.  Under duress or not – that’s really not relevant - he’s making accusations about the behavior of the military in Afghanistan that are unfounded, saying that there are no rules, he’s lying about how he was captured, saying he lagged behind the patrol.  Julie, I’ll tell you, any 11th bravo infantrymen will tell you, that’s not how it works.  In a war zone, any soldier is aware of where all his buddies are.  If it’s a night patrol, you’re sure aware of where the guy in front of you and behind you is.  So we know that this private is a liar.  We’re not sure if he’s a deserter.  But the media needs to hit the pause button, and not portray this guy as a hero.”

Peters also said:

“Well, Julie, I was to stress first of all that we must wait until all of the facts are in until we make a final judgment.  But nobody in the military that I’ve heard is defending this guy.  He is an apparent deserter.  Reports are indeed that he abandoned his buddies, abandoned his post, and walked off.  We’ll see what the ultimate truth of it is, but if he did, if he’s a deserter at wartime, well, as one of my old platoon sargeants would say, he’s in ‘beaucoup deep kimchi.’”

A liar and a coward. What a heartwarming show of solidarity and victim blaming understanding as one of our soldiers remains in captivity and could be killed at any time. Oh, but don’t worry, it’s like Pfc. Bergdahl’s at summer camp!

For right now, I think he’s okay.  They’re not going to kill him right away, if at all, because he is tremendous propaganda value.  He’s making anti-American statements, I mean, he wants to investigate Islam, blah blah blah.

And hey, who knows, the man who gave up his life and his youth at home to go fight wars might just be on the up and up, says Peters, in which case, no harm, no foul. You know, like unless he’s horrifically beheaded and he was totally innocent.

Now look, Julie, I want to be clear.  If, when the facts are in, we find out that through some convoluted chain of events, he really was captured by the Taliban, I’m with him.  But, if he walked away from his post and his buddies at wartime… I don’t care how hard it sounds, as far as I’m concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.

Tell you what, Taliban- how’s about we trade? One crusty retired Army dude who Fox News will air for a brave and handsome young man you’ve got over there.

The video is below.

[Extensive quoting thanks to the Daily Kos]

Seen on Fox News: Taliban should do us a favor and kill captured soldier is a post from: The Inquisitr

Is it possible that a Government could be worse than the Taliban who once ruled Afghanistan with a theocratic fist? Opponents of legislation that has passed in Afghanistan’s say it is “worse than during the Taliban.”

US backed Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has signed a law that legalizes rape in marriage and prevents women from leaving the house without permission.

The law, which has not been publicly released according to The Telegraph, is also believed to state women can only seek work, education or doctor’s appointments with their husband’s permission. Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children under the law, according to the United Nations.

The Afghan constitution guarantees equal rights for women, but also gives the Shia community (around 10% of the population) the right to settle family law cases according to Shia law.

The law is believed to have been an attempt to win Shia votes ahead of the next Afghanistan General Election.

Legal rape bought to you by the US backed Afghan Government is a post from: The Inquisitr