Political gain leaves Afghan women behind

Question: Where did the Taliban in Afghanistan get the idea they could do a deal with President Hamid Karzai to bring in Shariah law?

Choose the best answer from the following:

1. The Taliban was encouraged by the fact that in February, the Pakistani government let it legally administer Shariah law in the country's Swat Valley If you chose this answer, you're right. Note that the Taliban in Pakistan offered a 10-day ceasefire in good will and agreed to give up their weapons. Pictures smuggled out of the Swat area and aired on national TV show the Taliban terrorizing inhabitants with all kinds of weapons. In their leisure time, they're shown flogging women. They also burn girl's schools and insist that women stay home - unless, of course they have their husband's permission to go out.

2. The Afghani Taliban looked to Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, where Shariah law has been firmly entrenched for years, and said if they can do it, so can we.

If you chose this answer, you are right. After all, the West - aside from momentary outrage over high profile cases such as Mohamed Kohail, a 23-year-old Montrealer who may yet have his head lopped off - shows no inclination to invade Saudi Arabia. The Canadian government has yet to effectively intervene.

3. The Taliban read up on Canada where, for months in 2004-05, the province of Ontario debated whether or not it should allow Shariah law. We nearly made it, they said, when the idiotic proposition was finally rejected.

If you chose this answer, you are right. It is jaw dropping that a Canadian province could seriously entertain the possibility of a law that puts the rights of women somewhere below those of the family pet. "They don't like women," said an Afghani doctor, when I was helping with her English a few years ago. She explained in her halting yet eloquent English, that she was referring to all things Taliban and all things Shariah. She also told me about her hazardous journey over the mountains and into Pakistan to escape.