Word: afghanization
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When 17-year-old Sharif Hassanzade climbed into the ring on Feb. 28 as a finalist in France's junior super-lightweight championship bout, the native Afghan and illegal alien knew a win might be his last hope to avoid deportation when he turns 18 later this year. Now, thanks to a victorious performance in which he beat co-finalist Mehdi Nettour in a unanimous decision by the judges, Hassanzade isn't going anywhere...
...What makes Hassanzade's success so amazing, however, is how it grew from virtually nothing. The son of Afghan shepherds who fled to Pakistan in 2005, Hassanzade was 14 when his parents, determined to give their son a better, more peaceful life, paid smugglers to bring him to France in 2006. Once there, he was abandoned on the streets of Lille by the same people who were supposed to help get him settled in Europe. Despite having little money and knowing no French, the new arrival managed to communicate his dilemma with passersby, and eventually wound up in a children...
...addition to the French language lessons and other instruction he was given, Hassanzade was initiated into French boxing by a local social worker and savate coach, Bruno Cardoso. As well as taking the young Afghan under his wing - keeping tabs on his education and helping him with his request to obtain legal residency - Cardoso also shaped Hassanzade's raw athletic talent into the skilled boxing abilities that fueled his rapid rise...
...office in Rawalpindi directed Qasab to the sprawling campus of the Markaz-al-Dawa wal-Irshad in the town of Muridke, about half an hour's drive from Lahore. Established in 1987 by a trio of veterans from the Afghan jihad with funding from Osama bin Laden, this Wahhabi center quickly became known as the launchpad for militant jihad. But it is much more. Within a few years, the Markaz had expanded to include a madrasah, separate schools for boys and girls, a free hospital and a university. Its founders, Hafiz Saeed, Zafar Iqbal and Abdullah Azzam - the latter...
...fear a quagmire. But they know that some middle ground, between a "Central Asian Valhalla," as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates put it, and the current slide into chaos, has to be found. "We have to stabilize the military situation," said an Obama aide. "Continue to build up the Afghan army, and help the government to become more effective." In other words, hope that the disintegration of Afghanistan can be prevented while waiting - and hoping - for the Pakistanis to take effective action against the al-Qaeda and Taliban safe havens...