President Hamid Karzai has backed guidelines issued by Afghanistan's
religious council that relegate women to the position of second-class
citizens, raising questions about whether British soldiers should
continue to put their lives at risk for a government that seems prepared
to sell out on the issue in order to engage the Taliban in a peace
deal.
The Afghan leader endorsed the repressive guidelines on Tuesday, the
same day that six British soldiers were killed in an explosion in
Helmand province. "Men are fundamental and women are secondary," the
150-member Ulema Council said in a statement that was subsequently
posted on Mr Karzai's own website. It also said that men and women
should not mix in work or education, and that women must have a male
guardian when they travel.
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