Post-Taliban mosques sit empty / Afghans rethink Islam after heavy-handed enforcement ends
As a Jew, I can sympathize...: "Now that the hard-line [Taliban] movement's strong grip on Afghan society has been released--even in the countryside, where support for it was strongest--some people are not sure they want to be Muslim at all. Most Afghans say they consider themselves devout Muslims, but few pray five times a day, as the Koran instructs. In cities like Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, muezzins' calls for evening prayer now go virtually unnoticed as men gather in restaurants for dinner instead of going to the mosque." ("Post-Taliban mosques sit empty / Afghans rethink Islam after heavy-handed enforcement ends," San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 11)Will Russia support Israel?: Russia Journal reports: "In a dramatic show of support for Israel, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament abruptly canceled his meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. However, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov denied Tuesday that the move signaled a shift in Moscow's policy of maintaining a dialogue with both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the Federation Council, said that he decided not to meet with Arafat on Tuesday because "terrorist actions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Israel have common roots, primarily financial," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Mironov announced his decision after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon late Monday. He said that the Israeli side viewed his decision as a show of support in the war against terror."
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