Word: afghanistans
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...short supply. It will be several years before Afghan troops can defend the country on their own. Before it withdraws its forces, the U.S. will want to be sure that all al-Qaeda bases have been destroyed and that the group will not be able to use Afghanistan as a launching pad for further terrorist attacks. In theory, that is doable. Intelligence officials estimate that there are fewer than 100 al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, but for the Taliban to completely renounce their al-Qaeda sponsors, says Giustozzi, they will have to be provided with alternative sources of income...
...Taliban. The war has brought their causes closer together, he says. "Now the real Taliban is no different from the real al-Qaeda. They are not a bunch of hungry guys fighting because al-Qaeda is paying them. They will never accept our vision of a stable, democratic Afghanistan...
...talks less as a considered proposal for a long-term Afghan solution and more as a way for the U.S. and its allies to get out as soon as they can. "If we are going to initiate dialogue, it should not be so the West can immediately leave Afghanistan, saying, 'Look, now they have come together. They have developed a solution Afghans are happy with, so we can back off.' If you did that, this country would collapse back into chaos. We have to do this because we want to make sure there is a lasting peace...
Talking to the Taliban, on that view, will work only if it is accompanied by an extensive nation-building program, leading to a clean government that protects its people and gives them real opportunity. Pity that is precisely the long-term commitment to Afghanistan the U.S. is trying to avoid...
...gotten any better. For the third year in a row, the African nation topped the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, produced by the global watchdog group Transparency International, because of concerns over rampant piracy off its coasts and the crumbling government. More troubling for the U.S. and its allies, Afghanistan, viewed as the second most corrupt nation, is up three spots from 2008, as its Taliban insurgency has worsened. Iraq, still bedeviled by reconstruction woes, placed fifth...