(Photo here.)

Vice and virtue in the Middle East....

Afghanistan has announced plans to re-establish its "Vice and Virtues Ministry," the infamous government body which under the Taliban was charged with enforcing bans on morally questionable activities like girls' schools, television, card-playing, kite-flying and women's public baths.

But don't worry! Despite the identical name, girls who'd like to read, women who'd prefer to bathe, fans of Tolo TV, poker enthusiasts, kite-lovers and others, such as gays who'd rather leave the closet behind and artists who believe in freedom of expression, all have nothing to fear.

Karim Rahimi, Karzai's spokesman, said Afghans should not be worried.

"The people were scared of the Vice and Virtues Ministry under the Taliban, but this new ministry won't be like the Taliban's," Rahimi said. "It will take into consideration moral and religious activities to help improve Afghan society."

Oh, that's reassuring. The ministry will help improve Afghan society.

Lord knows it could use some improving. Afghanistan under American occupation is a country where, in May of 2005, a popular but controversial female TV presenter, Shaima Rezayee, 24, was shot dead in her home, execution style, one bullet to the head.

Victim of a family “honour killing"? Or of a religious zealot who believed no woman should appear on TV, especially in semi-western style clothing? Is there even a distinction between those two, other than that the latter could be a stranger? Her killing left a fellow male television presenter cowering in the studio, afraid to go home and desperately seeking asylum outside the country.

So, presumably with this new ministry in operation, Rezayee would never have had the opportunity of appearing on TV. Instead, shut away in the backroom of some Kabul home, unbathed, illiterate, and married to a man 30 years her senior, she may have still been "alive."

Salon story (requires subscription or ad-viewing) here.