I hear you Tom. I get conflicted when i see these articles in msm. The blatant violence and injustice against women must be recognized and i obviously support advocating for womens' rights to ..............be female and , what can i say here? To be female and 'human'? However,

When i read these items from the western press, i cant help but feel they are attempting to incite Islamophobia. I guess it is the intention that i am sensing that bothers me. All of a sudden they give a damn about the plight of women in Afghanistan. And quite frankly, i think that there are many in the western power elite who would have it the same way, as you point out.

True.

mermaidblue - History depends on when you start the telling. Thanks for the very honest and perceptive comment. Same applies to Iran and Congo, whose decent leaders were slain in order to set up backward or corrupt regimes friendly to US and British corporations, and women's rights were severely eroded.

Mermaid,

With all due respect, I doubt if you know squat about Sharia or Fiqh. Want to educate yourself, let me suggest to you an excellent source, who incidentally is Jewish, namely Noah Feldman. But that would take some effort on your part, so forget what I said.