WORLD BRIEFING / AFGHANISTAN
President Hamid Karzai said he had ordered a review of a new law that critics say makes it legal for men to rape their wives, responding to criticism from around the world that included sharp comments from President Obama.
The law is intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan’s Shiite community, which makes up about 10% of the country’s 30 million people. Under one article, Shiite husbands are given the right to demand sex every fourth night unless the wife is ill.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women has said the law “legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband.”
Obama described the law as “abhorrent,” and said the U.S. was conveying its views to the Afghan government. Even before Obama’s comment, Karzai said he ordered the Justice Ministry to review the law.
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