Afghan Prez Confirms Re-Election Bid

Karzai promises to amend controversial 'marital rape' law
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 28, 2009 5:59 AM CDT
Afghan Prez Confirms Re-Election Bid
Afghan police officers push back counter-protesters during a demonstration against religious laws in Kabul, Afghanistan, earlier this month.   (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has confirmed for the first time that he will run for re-election in the country's elections this summer, the Times of London reports. Karzai repeated his pledge to amend a controversial law critics say condones marital rape and child marriage, surprising observers who believed he would keep it on the books to appease the country's conservative clerics. (More Hamid Karzai stories.)

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