Now for a few words about Afghanistan...

Over five years after the fall of the Taliban, the promise of a free, moderate, democratic state in Afghanistan has all but collapsed, as Kabul gradually becomes another Tehran.

And for some reason, nobody seems to care.

Sure, there was a little bit of controversy when Abdul Rahman was put on trial for converting to Christianity. But other than a furious volley of indignant finger wagging, the benefactors of Afghanistan's new government did nothing.

Abdul Rahman was deported to Paris.
Christians remain widely persecuted in Afghanistan.

A quick glance at the opening articles of the U.S. approved constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan reveals the root of the problem:

Article One

Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible state.

Article Two

The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.

Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.

Article Three

In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."

In other words, people can practice non-Islamic religions within the limits of the law, but all laws have to be in agreement with the tenets of the Islamic faith. If freedom of religion conflicts with Islamic law, Islam, not freedom, prevails. So, even though the constitution pays lip-service to the western concepts of freedom of speech, religion, etc., as soon as any of these things are perceived as "contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam" they can be tossed out the window like so much rotten hummus.

Afghanistan is an Islamic theocracy.

In February, Afghanistan's parliament passed a law granting amnesty to any jihadists found guilty of war-crimes committed during the uprising against the Soviets and the civil war of the 1990s, with one representative voicing the opinion that if law enforcement were to pursue these war criminals it would "tarnish the name of jihad". Yesterday, another disturbing development surfaced. The government of Afghanistan is now seeking to control the media in order to silence non-Islamic and other dissenting voices within the country:

(From Al-Jazeera)
"Afghanistan's parliament is on the brink of passing a new media law that may considerably reduce the independence of the country's media.

The controversial amendments to the law, proposed by the religious and cultural affairs commission of the parliament, chaired by former regional commander Haji Mohammed Mohaqeq and supported by the government, will bring both private and state media under greater government control.

Proposed changes include an oversight committee that will scrutinise the functioning of the media including its content
....
Control of content will be guided through clauses which include prohibitions that prevent publicity of any other religion than Islam, prohibit the media from producing any content that is unislamic or jeopardises the stability of the nation or any false information which might disrupt public opinion.
...
The government's determination of what are facts will result in one-sided reportage. Already there have been several attempts to impose guidelines for reporting on the media with a wide-ranging list of subjects which should not be reported.

The recently passed amnesty bill, immunising all jihadis from prosecution also sought to introduce a clause which would force the media to honour the jihadis in any reportage. Both moves were dropped under pressure but may be reintroduced through this bill."

The only thing worse than the story itself is the fact that this story was entirely ignored by the American media. In fact, very little about Afghanistan seems to come out of the mainstream media these days. Why? I really have no idea. Maybe people just aren't as interested in hearing about a fledgling democracy traveling down the road towards Islamization as they are in hearing Alec Baldwin cussing at his 11 year-old daughter over the phone.

Still, the silence of the media isn't quite as distressing as the silence of our President and the rest of the government of the United States at Afghanistan's increasing disregard for the liberty we gave them. Apparently, due to the invasion of Afghanistan's status as a "good war", both sides of the political aisle would rather shut up and look the other way rather than admit that our experiment with Islamic democracy isn't going completely peachy.

But whether or not America chooses to ignore it, the situation in Afghanistan doesn't look like it's going to get any better in the foreseeable future. Although moderate Muslims continue to insist that Islam and western-style democracy are perfectly compatible, the facts seem to suggest otherwise.