And we are fighting for this?

As the US commits more troops to Afghanistan - and expects other countries to do otherwise - one must question whether the country is a failed State or at the very least a lost cause. Put another way, is it worth the untold mayhem, death and destruction which will ensue with going into Afghanistan?

The IHT reports in "Court affirms blasphemy sentence for Afghan journalist":

"The Afghan Supreme Court has upheld a 20-year sentence for an Afghan university student journalist accused of blasphemy in a case that has alarmed media and rights organizations in Afghanistan and abroad. The student's family and lawyers said Wednesday thay had only learned recently about the court decision, which was taken in secret on Feb. 12, and they denounced the procedure as illegal.

The student, Parwez Kambakhsh, from northern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to death for blasphemy after accusations that he wrote and distributed an article about the role of women in Islam. Kambakhsh has denied writing the article and said he downloaded it from the Internet. His family and lawyers say he has been denied a fair trial.

In 2008, an appeals court in Kabul commuted the death sentence to 20 years imprisonment, a decision that was upheld a tribunal of the Supreme Court last month."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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