In an attempt to get Afghan men to "compromise," Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with them to let their women vote in the upcoming elections while also noting that they will be able to "control" whom their women vote for.

The Toronto Star reports:

"Please, my dear brothers, let your wives and sisters go to the voter registration process," Karzai told a gathering to mark International Women's Day. "Later, you can control who she votes for, but please, let her go." ... "Now that is a bad idea," said Simi Nakbari, a teacher and mother whose husband reluctantly allowed her to attend the meeting. "It doesn't seem like a very good interpretation of the rights we are working for. We can select which minister or warlord to vote for as well as anyone."

Zerghouna Gig, a mother of four from rural Wardak province, said constitutional ideals of equality between men and women are not reaching the regions outside of Kabul. "They talk about their wishes, but it all starts at home," said Gig, whose husband, a military doctor, only allowed her to attend the conference after pressure from his superiors.

It's a deplorable situation when the leader of a nation has to suggest that men control how women vote as a way to get those men to allow women to vote in the first place. I don't think a nation or culture can point to any positive attributes which would outweigh a situation like this and prevent labels like "barbaric" and "backwards" from being appropriate.

Read More:

• Recent Books on Islam
• Islam
• The Taliban
• Religion in Afghanistan