"...reconciliation with the Taliban will encourage conservative Islamic clerics and hard-line Islamists, including the moderate elements of the Taliban, to push for the implementation of a harsh justice system that would directly contradict the human-rights guarantees enshrined in the current Afghan Constitution."

Too late. The human rights guarantees enshrined in the current Afghan Constitution are already hollow and subject to Sharia. Just ask Abdul Rahman, the celebrated Afghan convert from Islam to Christianity a few years ago.

"Western Withdrawal Date Brings Old Debate On Islamic Law Into Focus," by Abubakar Siddique for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, September 5

Nine years after the toppling of their hard-line regime, the Taliban are making a comeback in rural Afghanistan with their harsh system of justice and strict social controls.

In Qarabagh, a district in Afghanistan's central Ghazni Province, the Taliban have forced the closure of all girl schools and banned sports, music, and dancing. Women are barred from employment and forced to wear the all-encompassing burqa, while men are ordered to cover their heads, too. Public schools for boys were kept open only after dramatically increasing Islamic lessons.

The Taliban push for implementing Shari'a law has sparked a debate about whether the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan -- set to begin in July 2011 -- and Kabul's drive for reconciliation with the Taliban will encourage conservative Islamic clerics and hard-line Islamists, including the moderate elements of the Taliban, to push for the implementation of a harsh justice system that would directly contradict the human-rights guarantees enshrined in the current Afghan Constitution.

Inside Afghanistan, it has rekindled a century-old discussion about the role of Shari'a law in society. The central question now is whether a majority of Afghans, including the Taliban, can agree on a justice system consistent with universal notions of human rights....