Malalai Joya, Afghan war critic, gets U.S. visa

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A prominent Afghan feminist and war critic was granted a visa to enter the United States on Thursday - by the same State Department office that turned her down last week - and belatedly started on a speaking tour that is scheduled to wind up in San Francisco.

The case of Malalai Joya is the latest of several in which the Obama administration, after at first refusing entry, has allowed a visit by a foreigner who has criticized policies of the United States or its allies.

The administration "does not engage in the practice of ideological exclusion," the State Department's legal adviser, Harold Koh, said in a letter in December to the American Civil Liberties Union, which backed Joya and others whose visits were challenged. ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer said the administration has largely kept its promise.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/24/BA9G1IIA3P.DTL

[RedSock]

1. she is amazing

heard her speak in toronto -- amazingly brave person

[ensho]

2. glad the W.H. got some sense

nt