Obama, NATO pressure Karzai over law on women

By David Ljunggren and Adrian Croft

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - President Barack Obama piled pressure on Afghan leader Hamid Karzai on Saturday to scrap an "abhorrent" law which critics say would legalize marital rape.

Other leaders meeting at a NATO summit joined in the chorus of disapproval, warning that support for the military alliance's Afghan mission would suffer if the Shi'ite Personal Status Law was not dropped.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown personally phoned Karzai to complain and Western officials said the Afghan leader had ordered a review of the draft law, which would apply to the country's Shi'ite minority.

"I think this rule is abhorrent ... We have stated very clearly that we object to this law," Obama told a news conference after a NATO summit.

"It is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture but we also think there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold ... (including) respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity."

The former Taliban regime, overthrown by U.S.-led forces in 2001, discriminated strongly against women and girls, and NATO leaders have justified their continued presence in Afghanistan partly by saying they were defending human rights.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said if Afghanistan compromised the pursuit of fundamental human values "there will be clear diminishment in Allied support for this venture."

Shi'ite Muslims account for some 15 percent of mainly Sunni Muslim Afghanistan. Karzai is facing an election in August and Shi'ite support could be crucial to his chances.

KARZAI SEES MISINTERPRETATION

Karzai said on Saturday the West's criticisms were based on a wrong translation or misinterpretation of the law, which has not yet come into force.

His comments did not satisfy Canada, whose troops have paid a heavy price fighting in the south of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are at their strongest.

"I'm not sure the Alliance is prepared to accept simply soothing reassurances," said Harper.

He acknowledged a contradiction between the West insisting Afghanistan was a sovereign country that could not be told what to do and then telling Kabul to scrap the law.

"Clearly the Afghan government is a sovereign government. That said, (it) understands the involvement of international forces in their country ... is based on our adherence to certain principles," he said.

Brown told reporters he had called Karzai and "demanded assurances" that the law would not infringe women's rights.