re: So lets get this straight
What happened is that the Afghans brought a man to trial for converting to another religion, and wanted to execute him.
The circumstances got wide coverage, the trial got a lot of well-deserved negative publicity, they let the man off, and he's now safe in Italy.
Before we invaded Iraq, the man would have been simply taken out and shot. Along with hundreds of others who nobody would ever hear of.
I call this progress.