Afghanistan's "official" security forces rape with impunity and engage in sale and trafficking of women, while the Taliban reap the backlash, imposing harsh vigilante "justice" over growing swaths of the country. Freedom's on the march, eh? First this, from the BBC's Persian service Nov. 7, translated somewhat awkwardly by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA):

According to a report from the Northern Province of Takhar, tens of people staged a demonstration to protest rape of a girl by police in the Dasht-e-Qala district of this province.

The angry protesters asked the officials to remove the district chief and head of police for misuse of their power and corruption and prosecute the police who have raped the girl.

Gen. Mujtaba Fatang, head of police says the police has not raped the girl but has gone to a brothel but has not raped anyone.

Also it is reported that selling of women has become very common in Faryab province in north of Afghanistan and each woman is sold up to 50,000 Afghanis (around US$1,000).

Sharifa, head of women’s affairs department in Faryab is concerned and says that violence against woman have not been reduced but abuses and humiliation against them increase day by day.

Says explains that most of the girls sold are between 5 to 15 years old and poverty, lack of women’s rights and domestic violence are main factors behind it.

Next this... From Pajhwok Afghan News, Sept. 2, also via RAWA:

LASHKARGAH: Taliban have publicly executed a man for his alleged involvement in a murder case in the Garmsir district of the southern Helmand province on Saturday.

Dozens of people in Safaar village were present and witnessed the execution, a resounding of the six-year rule of the religious students. The Taliban leader on the scene, delivered a lengthy sermon to the gathering before the man was hanged to death.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi said the man was hanged because he had killed an innocent person recently and the victim's father demanded justice from the Taliban.

The alleged murderer was arrested about a week back and was tried by the Taliban under Islamic laws. He was found guilty of the crime and was awarded death penalty, said the purported spokesman.

Ahmadi said it was the 11th case of its nature in Helmand since the overthrow of their regime in 2001. Fazal Bari, resident of the area, told Pajhwok Afghan News large number of people witnessed the Qisas (death penalty for killers under Islamic laws).

Contacted for comments, district officials said they were not aware of any such incident. Inhabitants of Garmsir said Safaari village was out of the government's control since long.

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