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 Such deplorable actions underline the vital need for better protection of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan 

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The commander of NATO's 130,000 troops in Afghanistan, General John Allen, offered to help local security forces track and capture the men involved in what he called "an atrocity of unspeakable cruelty".

The brutal shooting of the lone woman before a cheering mob of men is shown in graphic detail in a video of the event in a village in Parwan province some 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of the capital Kabul.

"We have sent a police force to the area," Parwan provincial governor Basir Salangi told AFP, adding that the government had no permanent presence in the valley.

"They are searching for the Taliban who are responsible but the Taliban, including the killer, have fled to the mountains."

Roshna Khalid, Salangi's spokeswoman, separately told AFP the 22-year-old woman, named as Najiba, was married to a member of the hardline Islamist Taliban and was accused of adultery with a Taliban commander.

"Within one hour they decided that she was guilty and sentenced her to death. They shot her in front of villagers in her village, Qol," she said.

Public executions of alleged adulterers were common when the Taliban regime was in power from 1996 until 2001, when they were ousted by a US-led invasion for harbouring Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.

The Taliban have since waged an insurgency against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

"There has been too much progress made by too many brave Afghans, especially on the part of women, for this kind of criminal behaviour to be tolerated," Allen said.

The video also drew international condemnation, with British Foreign Secretary William Hague saying he was "shocked and disgusted" by the execution.

"Such deplorable actions underline the vital need for better protection of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan," he said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before the video surfaced, made a powerful plea Sunday for the rights of women in Afghanistan, amid fears that recent gains for women are under threat as NATO troops prepare to leave in 2014.

Clinton, who was addressing a world conference in Tokyo on Afghanistan's future, said: "The United States believes strongly that no nation can achieve peace, stability and economic growth if half the population is not empowered."

President Hamid Karzai's government condemned the killing as "un-Islamic and inhuman", ordering police to find and bring to justice those responsible.

The video opens with the woman, wrapped in a grey shawl, sitting at the edge of a ditch in a village surrounded by dozens of men, some perched on rooftops for a better view.

As she sits with her back to the crowd a bearded man is seen reading verses from the Koran condemning adultery, before saying: "We cannot forgive her, God tells us to finish her."

The video then shows a man in white being handed an AK-47 rifle. Some local reports said the shooter was the woman's husband but Khalid, the governor's spokesperson, told AFP that he was a relative of the victim's husband.

The executioner approaches to within a couple of metres of the woman, says "Allahu akhbar" (God is great), and fires a total of 13 shots as the crowd cheers wildly, shouting "Long live Islam", "Long live mujahideen (holy warriors)".

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Thu Jun 20 13:40:10 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 10, 2012

Pointman

This is barbaric behaviour. Anyway why was the the man she was supposed to have committed adultery with not executed as well. In religion there are different rules for women and men - in all religions women are considered inferior to men. Muslims will tell you that in islam women are respected and given equal rights but it is a lie. Religion is twaddle.
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Jul 10, 2012

Mofida

This is one of the reasons why i will always be happy to be an astheist.
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Jul 10, 2012

mbany8

All rooks and hooligans are hiding in this religion. Look what is happening in Nigeria. Bokha Ram is engaging in massive attacks and killing innocent people for a mere cult that has got nothing to do with their culture. Intolerence is the name of the game.
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Jul 10, 2012

sabza007

@mbany8

I agree 100% with you. Out of all different religions that we have in this world, Islamic religion is the most unfair,brutal and unforgiving region.

My question is, what is a difference between a Bible and a Koran? The verse that this man read that said ''Adultery is punishable by death and that God said we must not forgive those who commit that sin'' ,did God really said that? This woman did not cheat alone, what happened to the Taliban Commander that she cheated with ??

Actually, I saw pictures on The Star Newspaper yesterday, they showed pictures when this man was firing with a AK-47 at this woman on close range. He missed her with the first two bullets, and he came even more closer and sprayed her with bullets. I was shocked,disgusted and speechless.
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