Word: sovietize
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...their kind of lawlessness and banditry that afflicted Afghanistan during the few years between the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and the Taliban takeover in 1996. The victorious Mujahideen had successfully repelled the Soviet occupation, but left to themselves, the various factions could not come together to form a government. What followed was a bloody descent into anarchy. Kabul—virtually the only part of Afghanistan left intact by the bitter jihad against the Soviets—was subsequently shelled to the ground by the “liberators.” Life in the capital city was made...
Unsavory characters as they are, the warlords have often served U.S. interests. But they are a slippery bunch. From the American perspective, the warlords fought bravely against the Soviets from 1979 to 1989 but then went astray following the Soviet defeat. From the American perspective, the warlords fought bravely against the Taliban, but now that the Taliban has been ostensibly defeated, it is unlikely that the warlords will turn in their tanks and rocket launchers for desk jobs...
Afghanistan is more than just Kabul. The same cast of characters that ravaged Afghanistan in the post-Soviet, pre-Taliban days are still holding the guns. If the international community does not develop an effective strategy for dealing with these characters, then do not be surprised if Afghanistan lapses back into anarchy...
...between Us and Them, freedom and tyranny, good and evil. The hard-liners believe that U.S. foreign policy proceeds from straightforward choices between absolutes: trust the nations that work with you; treat everyone else as a potential adversary. The hard-liners' hero is Ronald Reagan, who labeled the former Soviet Union the "evil empire." Reagan, however, rarely let his rhetoric get in the way of pragmatic foreign policy. And Bush is now showing signs of similar flexibility...
...difficult to maintain security within Israel—it is not clear who is friend or foe just by looking. Moreover, it’s just untrue that all Israeli soldiers are white. Hailing from across the world—with immigrants from Ethiopia and Morocco, from the Former Soviet Union and India, Israel has one of the most diverse armies in the world. Arab Druze are Israeli citizens who serve in the army as well—are they to be accused of racial discrimination...