Islamabad -- The recent execution by stoning of a man and woman accused of adultery in Kunduz, Afghanistan is a startling reminder of the brutal system of justice administered by the Taliban. A slew of other such harrowing images over the years has helped create an important narrative of the Taliban's callous disregard for human rights and archaic legal norms.

A parallel, and equally significant, storyline has been that of the Taliban providing a speedy and effective system of justice appreciated for its ability to settle important commercial and civil disputes. A recent report by Chatham House argues that Afghanistan's lack of emphasis on ensuring access to justice to its citizens has been exploited by the Taliban, the memory of whose "harsh, but just" rule has garnered many supporters.

This position is not new. Over the years, studies and reports have repeatedly pointed towards the Taliban's expeditious brand of justice as one reason for their continued success in Afghanistan. Despite general agreement on this, improving the rule of law and ensuring access to justice have too often been sidelined by both local government and international donors, deemed desirable but ultimately secondary to the more important and immediate aim of providing security and countering militancy.

This situation has strong parallels with that in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where local Taliban fighters and other militants have capitalized on the perceived lack of justice (including false imprisonments, costly and lengthy court cases, and inefficient or corrupt legal systems) to win the support of the local populace.

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Standoff continues

The Lahore High Court has blocked Raymond Davis, the American citizen the U.S. asserts is a diplomat who allegedly shot and killed two Pakistanis in what he claims was self-defense, from being handed over to U.S. authorities and from leaving Pakistan (AFP, AP, Reuters, BBC, ET, Dawn). Davis, whose release a U.S. congressional delegation brought up with Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari yesterday, is reportedly not cooperating with Pakistani authorities (CNN). Zardari said Pakistani courts should decide Davis' case; the Lahore court demanded that the federal government determine whether he has diplomatic immunity within 15 days (The News, Dawn, Daily Times).

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It seemed to be simple case of shooting in self-defense in a busy street in Lahore, after being threatened at gunpoint by robbers. The twists in the narrative, however, have made it into a front-page story here in Pakistan. The person who killed the two men, Faizan and Faheem, was Raymond Davis, a U.S. citizen and reportedly a member of the U.S. Embassy staff. And when Davis called the U.S consulate in Lahore for help, a staff member allegedly killed another person, Ubaid ur Rehman, in a hit-and-run accident after speeding down on the wrong side of the road in an attempt to reach Davis.

Davis has been arrested, and is in police custody in Lahore. Pakistani authorities, eager to stake their claims about the sovereignty of the Pakistani nation and the rule of law, have vowed to not hand over Davis until an investigation into the matter is completed. Members of political and religious parties have urged the government not to release Davis, while anonymous text messages have circulated asking the government to swap Davis for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in an American court last fall for attempting to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan.

The Davis incident brings up many questions. Firstly, who IS Raymond Davis? Reports are still mixed. According to ABC News, Davis is a private security officer. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad calls Davis a "diplomat". The truth is anyone's guess.

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Dangerous jobs

On Saturday, a Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed Abdul Latif Ashna, the deputy governor of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, and wounded up to six others (AP, Pajhwok, CNN, LAT, Tel, Post, BBC). A day later in the eastern city of Jalalabad, four Afghan policemen and two children were wounded in a roadside bombing (Pajhwok). And the NYT reports that an entire family -- both parents and four children -- were killed in Friday's Taliban suicide attack on Kabul's Finest supermarket (NYT). The mother, Hamida Barmaki, was a lawyer and human rights advocate who worked to end the use of child soldiers and the sexual abuse of children in Afghanistan's security services. On Sunday, Afghanistan signed on to a U.N.-backed plan to stop the recruitment of children and bacha bazi -- Dari for "boy play" -- a tradition in which young boys are dressed up as young girls, made to dance, and prostituted to the highest bidder, in Afghanistan's security forces (NYT, WSJ). 

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Bekkay Harrach, the German spokesman for Al Qaeda Central (AQC), was confirmed dead in an attack on the U.S. air base at Bagram in a statement released last week by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The German-Moroccan was usually referred to by the jihadi nom de guerre Abu Talha al-Almani (The German). Rumors of his death surfaced last autumn but were never confirmed by either NATO or AQC.

Born to a Moroccan family that immigrated to Germany when he was a child, Harrach starred in several German-language AQC propaganda films and audio tapes. Harrach is believed to have traveled to Afghanistan or Pakistan in 2007 where he eventually joined AQC, and it is suspected (but has not been confirmed) that his travel was facilitated by recruitment networks active in Germany. A relatively large number of Germans, including many of Turkish descent, have traveled to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions, and joined in significant numbers two militant Uzbek groups operating in the region, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and an offshoot, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU).

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Finest attacked

In an attack a Taliban spokesman claimed was targeted at the chief of the security firm Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, a suicide bomber opened fire and then detonated explosives at the Finest store, a supermarket in Kabul often frequented by foreigners (Pajhwok, AP, Reuters, AFP, BBC, NYT). Three female foreigners and a child were reportedly among the 8 people killed, and a dozen others were wounded.

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Shootout in Lahore

A U.S. consular employee Geo TV names as "Davis" reportedly shot and killed two men on motorcycles who apparently tried to rob him in Lahore earlier today, and another may also have died in connection with the incident (Geo, AP, AFP/ET, Reuters, BBC). A crowd reportedly gathered at the scene and set tires on fire in protest (AFP).

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Strained relations

In a victory for Afghanistan's lawmakers, Afghan president Hamid Karzai begrudgingly opened the country's parliament earlier today, rather than in a month as he declared last week, with calls for unity and a dig at the West as he said that "foreign interference" was a "serious problem" in the election process (AP, Reuters, Post, ABC). Yesterday, Karzai's office released a statement quoting the president: "Some foreign hands questioned our decisions and started instigation to create crises in our country... [They] kept provoking candidates (winning MPs) that they should inaugurate the parliament without the president's participation and that we will support you" (AFP, WSJ). Losing candidates continued to press Karzai and vowed to boycott the government in some areas (NYT, Pajhwok). For the first time since the September 2010 parliamentary elections, Afghanistan has three working branches of government, and Karzai, no longer ruling by decree, has a check on his power; it's unclear whether the special tribunal Karzai appointed to deal with complaints about the election will have the ability to change the results.

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