Word: talibanize
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President Barack Obama prioritized the conflict in Afghanistan soon after taking office, but he made it clear that the U.S. would scale down its ambitions there. The objective of the mission would be to defeat al-Qaeda and its supporters in the Taliban, rather than trying to turn Afghanistan into a modern, well-governed state. "We are not going to be able to rebuild Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy," the new President said. (Read "The Taliban Threat to Disrupt the Afghan Election...
...resurgence of extremism and to allow American and NATO troops to someday head home. "Democracy and development have to be part of any exit strategy," says the Rand Corp.'s James Dobbins, who was President Bush's first envoy to Kabul. (Read "Afghanistan Exit Strategy: Buying Off the Taliban...
Some people, however, play down the warnings from Haider and the militants. Abdul Qader Noorzai, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commsion in Kandahar province, says people "are tired of the Taliban's threats and don't take them as seriously" after repeated promises of suicide attacks never came. He notes that the militants' stated intent is to avoid civilian casualties in order to cast in sharper relief U.S. culpability for the deaths of Afghans in errant air strikes and night raids. (Insurgents have been responsible for 60% of civilian deaths so far this year, according to U.N. figures...
...people could be legitimately worried. Few would dispute that the Taliban is making inroads into its original stronghold. Militant radio stations in the region are broadcasting anti-election threats, echoed in local mosques, about not going into town. And black turbans, the telltale accessory of the Taliban, roam freely in the suburbs, say locals. On his return to Kandahar over the weekend, Mohammed Amir, a 26-year-old truck driver, says he saw about 20 Taliban setting up a roadside bomb. "They were not scared," he says. "They were not even in a hurry...
...that while several surrounding districts are "hostile," security is "assured" for a peaceful election in the city as a whole. The Afghan intelligence chief has confirmed reports that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's half-brother and head of the Kandahar provincial council, has brokered deals with some influential Taliban commanders and warlords for a temporary cease-fire in some of the country's most violent areas. (Read about a proposal to buy off the Taliban to achieve victory...