Word: afghanization
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...there are few sure things in Afghan commerce. Not even a powerful international brand like Coca-Cola is guaranteed success. In September, Habib Gulzar Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Coke's franchisee in Afghanistan, opened a $25 million dollar bottling plant on the outskirts of Kabul. The modern facility-the first such factory to open since the fall of the Taliban-is large enough to produce 40,000 cases of soda a day. But the factory is operating at less than 20% of its capacity. Asked to estimate when the investment might be recouped, Salman Rawn, country manager for Coca-Cola Afghanistan...
...There are numerous reasons why profits may prove elusive for Coca-Cola's Afghan venture. The country's rustic road network means that product distribution is limited to Kabul and a few other nearby cities; Kandahar, a potentially large market in the south, is off-limits because militants and bandits make it too dangerous to truck goods there. In many places, Coke smuggled in from neighboring Pakistan is available in shops at significantly lower prices than the Afghan-produced bottles. The cost of safeguarding Coca-Cola's local bottling plant and employees from attacks has soared as suicide bombings have...
...having supplies airlifted to stranded trains were all part of traveling aboard the Ghan, Australia's legendary outback train, during the early 20th century. Thankfully, the big skies and red dust are all appreciated from the air-conditioned side of a tinted window these days. Named after the Afghan cameleers who supplied the early desert towns, the weekly Ghan takes two nights to make the 2,979-km haul to Adelaide from Darwin. Choose between seats, budget sleepers or luxury cabins. Read more at www.gsr.com.au. HANOI TO HO CHI MINH CITY: The Thong Nhat line, once known as the "Reunification...
...tough is its fight in Afghanistan? Tougher than most thought it would be when NATO first deployed forces in August 2003 to help the nascent Afghan government maintain security. "If we fail in Afghanistan it could be the end of the alliance," says Ronald D. Asmus, director of the Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a security think tank in Brussels. "It would be like losing the Korean War at the beginning of the cold war." There's not a single NATO member state who would argue otherwise, yet the trend line is not encouraging...
...what once used to be a uniquely northern game became nationalized in the name of a cohesive Afghan identity. There was even talk of promoting Buzkashi as an Olympic event. And national leaders, from the king to the presidents, held games to consolidate power and weaken their enemies...