For once I agree wholeheartedly with the U.N. position. I'm fully behind Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on this one.

>We're supporting this?
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>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6030390.ece
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>Snippet:
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>President Obama is calling on allies to contribute more troops for an Iraq-style troop "surge" led by 20,000 American soldiers and marines in a bid to halt Afghanistan’s slide into anarchy.
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>But Nato’s Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, suggested that European countries may be deterred from contributing more in Afghanistan by the furore over Mr Karzai’s actions.
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>Mr de Hoop Scheffer told the BBC: "How can I defend this, and how can the British defend this, when our boys and girls are dying there in defence of universal values, and here is a law that fundamentally violates human rights?"
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>The Shia family law, a copy of which was leaked to The Times this week, sanctions rape within marriage, bars women from leaving the home without their husband’s permission and legalises the marriage of child brides as long as they have begun menstruation. Opponents have accused Mr Karzai of selling out Afghan women for political advantage, signing off the law in exchange for the support of the crucial Shia voting bloc.
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