Fighting for theocracy in Afghanistan?

The Associated Press

Afghans pray in March for a man sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity. The man fled Afghanistan.

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Fighting for theocracy in Afghanistan?

This is what Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh did: He saw a Web site about a Muslim woman's right to multiple marriages. He printed out the commentary. And he took it to school to discuss with his classmates. For that, he has been sentenced to death.

Six years after the United States toppled the Taliban, theocratic law has reasserted itself in Afghanistan. Is this what the U.S. is fighting for?

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As the West rises up in protest, and it certainly will rise up to defend Kambaksh, it empowers those within the repressive Islamic system who want to speak more freely, to vote in elections, to control their own destiny. And it weakens those who use the Koran to keep the people chained.

Yes, the invasion is putting and end to this sort of thing. But the invasion is not a superhero that can jump tall institutions in a single bound. It is a think of incremental gains, and we will see this again in the case of this young journalist who, I'll bet you, will not be executed.

So hooray for the invasion. Without it, it would be much worse in Afghanistan, and much, much worse for a certain young journalism student.

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Christine Y. Chen/Foreign Policy

Kambaksh isn't the only Afghan journalist who's gotten into trouble with the law. Ghows Zalmai was also arrested three months ago, charged with distributing a translation of the Koran that clerics did not accept. Religious scholars have also called for him to be put to death.

At any rate, all of this raises the question: Why did the U.S. go into Afghanistan and topple the Taliban, only to have it be replaced with a system like this? So far, no comment from Karzai, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos. But he'd better step up.