Karzai urges fundamentalists to stop forced marriage
Afghan leader Karzai is urging Islamic fundamentalists in his country to stop forced marriages of young girls. Reuters reports, 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.
Karzai's hope is that Afghan religious leaders will follow the path of Saudi Arabia where they declared forced marriage un-Islamic.
"In this fatwa they mentioned that forced marriages of girls is unjust in Islam. We have similar problems in Afghanistan. I hope that the noble Afghan Ulema issues a similar fatwa like the Saudi Ulema to end the oppression of Afghan women and girls."
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So in effect........they are looking toward Islam (religion) to end oppression of woman?
More like lessening it from *completely* ridiculous levels to *slightly* ridiculous. The Fundamentalist Islamic view of women always seemed to me to exist on a spectrum running from outright hatred/oppression to coddling/babying. I'd say a statement like Karzhai's is more likely to be a move towards coddling than liberation. Still, better to be babied to death than beaten. It's an easier starting point towards liberation, that's for sure.