Bump and Update: From Tom Paine.com's Take on the News:

One important detail has been overlooked: The constitution states that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam." Although there are provisions protecting women's rights, Afghan women are rightly concerned that there is nothing protecting them from the harsh application of Sharia—or Islamic— law.

Why is this a problem? Ziba Mir Hosseini, author of the book Islam and Gender explains: "We do not have in modern times any state which has introduced Sharia and has been able to respect women's rights." By ignoring this very troubling element of the new consitution in its laudatory statements, the Bush administration reminds us women's rights are important only when protecting them serves their foreign policy goals.

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original post 1/5/03 12:06 am

A new Constitution has been approved in Afganistan.

The charter, ratified after a last-minute deal to recognize minority languages, creates a strong presidential system that the country's U.S.-backed interim leader, Hamid Karzai, says is critical to uniting a country torn by two decades of war. It also states that men and women should be treated equally - a key demand of human rights groups. The Taliban barred girls from school and banned women from all public life.

....The new constitution is a "significant milestone" on the path to democracy, said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who worked with U.N. officials to help secure the agreement. "With the world watching, you have adopted one of the most enlightened constitutions in the Islamic world," he said in a statement. "You have made history."

The charter makes the president commander in chief of the armed forces, charges him with determining the nation's fundamental policies and gives him considerable power to press legislation.

Here's the old Constitution.