A Tipping Point

Like many, I am outraged upon reading the news that Afghanistan is in the process of passing a law that legalizes rape within marriage. The legislation is vile and repugnant on many levels. It is an affront to human dignity. It makes a mockery out of the idea that the future of Afghanistan could be one of a hopeful democracy that included equality for women. It spits in the face of every country that has participated in the country's reconstruction and rehabilitation from the days of the Taliban regime. It calls into question the most central reasoning for Canada's presence there. I have long said that Afghanistan is worth fighting for, because I believe that everybody, everywhere, is entitled to those basic rights of life, liberty, equality, and the security of the person. That we have fought and seen our young men die trying to keep the Taliban--a regime that was the most repressive of women's rights anywhere in the world--out of power, only to see the government of Karzai impose the same repression on women...it is disheartening beyond words.