Quote Originally Posted by ermitonto
Back on topic...

The United States government does not really care about the level of "freedom" or "democracy" in Afghanistan and its other satellite states. If it did, it would demand the existence of such basic freedoms as freedom of assembly (as I mentioned before, non-violent political groups are STILL banned), freedom of religion (not possible under the theocracy known as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan...but I guess fundamentalists like Bush don't really care too much about theocracies), freedom from human rights violations, and other liberties which simply do not exist under the American-backed theocracy.

If the United States government really cared about "freedom" and "democracy", it would immediately stop supporting and funding authoritarian dictatorships like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, and Uzbekistan. The fact that our leaders don't withdraw support for these countries or even denounce the complete lack of freedom in them is uncontrovertible evidence that the leaders of our country support the idea of authoritarian dictatorship, and I don't see how that can possibly be reconciled with all the bullshit they spout about "freedom", which for them is a nebulous concept that they refuse to define for us.
Found a nice little site that has the Afghanistan constitution. You may want to read this:


http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/af00000_.html
Article 22 [Equality]
(1) Any kind of discrimination and privilege between the citizens of Afghanistan are prohibited.
(2) The citizens of Afghanistan -- whether man or woman -- have equal rights and duties before the law.

Article 33 [Electoral Rights]
(1) The citizens of Afghanistan have the right to elect and be elected.
(2) Law regulates the conditions and means to exercise this right.

Article 34 [Expression, Press, Media]
(1) Freedom of expression is inviolable.
(2) Every Afghan has the right to express his thought through speech, writing, or illustration or other means, by observing the provisions stated in this Constitution.
(3) Every Afghan has the right to print or publish topics without prior submission to the state authorities in accordance with the law.
(4) Directives related to printing house, radio, television, press, and other mass media, will be regulated by the law.

Article 36 [Demonstration]
The citizens of Afghanistan have the right to un-armed demonstrations, for legitimate peaceful purposes.