Afghan Leader Karzai Seeks Ban on Forced Marriages

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8224880

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai Tuesday called on the country's Islamic clerics to help stop forced marriages of young girls. snip

He said some Afghan women were still oppressed three and a half years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the radical Taliban government that barred women from education and most outdoor work.

While the Taliban greatly restricted women's rights, ordering them to wear coverall burqa garments when venturing outdoors, they themselves opposed forced marriages of girls.

The group's reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a decree banning forced marriages but the practice, which has been going on for centuries, has continued.

In some parts of the country, girls of 12 or younger are still given in marriage to settle tribal disputes, especially in southern areas bordering Pakistan which are home to ethnic Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest tribe.

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[madhat]

1. But Laura Bush told us all was well there!

Hasn't the Administration gotten around to banning the Taliban yet?

[liam_laddie]

2. Harzai

It's not "Afghan Leader Karzai." "It's Kabul Ward Boss Karzai."

[NNN0LHI]

3. I had no idea that the Taliban had outlawed Forced Marriages...

...of little girls until I read this article.

Don