The Afghan government is facing increasing international pressure over the case of a 40-year-old man who converted to Christianity. That is a crime in Afghanistan and the man may face the death penalty for choosing to change religions.
While the United States and many European nations are increasingly concerned about the case, many Afghans are resenting what they deem as "interference" in their internal affairs.
The convert, 40-year-old Abdur Rahman, is being charged with apostasy under Islamic law. The legal system of Afghanistan is based on a combination of civil law and Islamic law or sharia.
Many Afghan clerics expressed their anger at Western interference in their weekly Friday sermons.
"We respect all religions but we don't go into the British embassy or the American embassy to see what religion they are following," said cleric Enayatullah Baligh at Kabul's main mosque.
"We won't let anyone interfere with our religion and he should be punished," he added.
"It would be better to get no aid or military help from the West for 100 years than accept this affront," Sadullah Abu Aman, a cleric and a member of parliament told Reuters.
The ironic thing is that the current government of Afghanistan is in power because it is considered more moderate than the religious extremists of the Taliban.
In addition to the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany and Australia, all of whom have troops fighting in Afghanistan, have expressed concern over the case and the lack of religious freedom in Afghanistan.
Thus far, the Canadian government has received assurances that Rahman will not be executed but he may be declared mentally unfit to stand trial so that the death penalty is not carried out against him. Rahman has denied he is mentally unstable.
The West continues to hope that Afghanistan will live up to international human rights agreements and allow Mr. Rahman to choose his faith freely. For now, however, this case remains an embarrassment for the Bush administration and for all other nations with troops in Afghanistan who thought they were fighting for freedom.
