Word: talibans
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...Karzai could instead be remembered as the leader who drove away international support and plunged his country into chaos. Americans, tiring of bad news from Afghanistan, are asking why the U.S. should pour more troops in if they cannot make any headway against the Taliban and al-Qaeda or send billions more dollars if they vanish into the baggy pockets of Kabul officials...
...quits on Karzai, the results could be disastrous. "It will be dog-eat-dog here," says Ashraf Ghani, a U.S.-educated presidential contender. In the vacuum created by a U.S. pullout, he argues, the Taliban would retake Kabul while millions of Afghans who embraced Western promises of girls' education, democracy and a place for Afghanistan in the 21st century would flee the country...
...keep that from happening, Karzai needs to show results--fast. Afghans say he must dismiss corrupt officials, improve law and order and use foreign aid money to build long-promised roads, dams, bridges and schools. This would win back many Afghans and stall the Taliban's advance. But it wouldn't be easy. To secure victory in these elections, the President had to indebt himself to the very warlords who are strangling the country with their greed...
...Taliban Thrives" [Sept. 7]: Our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is comparable to placing one's hand in a pail of water. When you stick your hand into the water, you create an effect. When you pull it out, the water returns to its original state. While we occupy those countries, we suffer casualties and financial disaster. Once we leave, everything will return to the way it was before: tribal wars, Muslim traditions and culture. We will have accomplished nothing. You cannot change thousand-year-old cultures into democratic states in a few years. It takes decades, even centuries...
...terms of disrupting terror networks, there have been notable successes in Pakistan's tribal badlands. Straddling the Afghan border, this region has long been notorious as a base for al-Qaeda, Taliban and foreign fighters who threaten both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is from here that Western governments fear that the next 9/11-style attack could emanate unless action is taken. Over the past year, Washington has intensified CIA-operated drone strikes - yielding a flurry of successes. Air strikes may have killed two prominent al-Qaeda commanders over the past fortnight. If confirmed, the deaths would be further blows...