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The key to breaking the Taliban taboo against women and the cultural brainwashing that the Taliban imposed upon many Afghans is to get women back into the workforce.

Ahmed Rashid

Despite all the dire predictions made in 2001, the Afghans have given the international community, its aid workers and soldiers a large window of opportunity to repair the damage done by 25 years of war.
AHMED RASHID

Aid Community Country Despite International Opportunity War Worker Year
The Afghans can’t point and say, “Oh, the Americans built that road. They built that telecommunications facility.
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Built Country Facility Point Road Say Telecommunication
vThis region harbors enormous potential. Pakistan could become the hub for the energy that is transported from Central Asia to South Asia. That could change the whole region.
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Change Country Energy Harbor Potential Region Transport Whole
And China is not keen that the U.S. should be so close to its borders over a long period of time. Certainly, if the U.S. is going to be there for a long time, it’s going to exacerbate regional tensions.
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Border Certainly Country Going Long Period Tension Time
The problem right now, which I’ve been pointing out very bluntly to American officials in Washington, is that the U.S. has no economic presence in Afghanistan.
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Country Economic Electricity Now Official Pointing Problem Right
The West does not understand how to deal with states that no longer have any authority and are threatened by dissolution. Their efforts failed in Iraq as well as Afghanistan.
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Authority Country Deal Effort Longer State Threatened Understand
The Pashtuns are angry at the Americans because, one, they’re still being bombed, and two, they perceive that the Americans are backing the Tajik faction, which controls the army and security forces in Kabul.
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Angry Army Backing Control Country Perceive Security Year
If Afghan soldiers continue to kill American soldiers as is happening these days, it can hardly be assumed that they will stay in Afghanistan in the long term. And what role are they to play?
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Assumed Continue Country Happening Long Soldier
The Pashtuns feel discriminated against by the Americans because they supported the Taliban and the war is still going on in their region with continued U.S. bombing.
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Country Discriminated Key Political Supported War
There’s a sense of desperation in Afghanistan because of the lack of funding and the fact that the U.S. only has a one-track military strategy. It doesn’t have an economic and political game plan.
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Country Desperation Funding Game Military Sense Track
The biggest mistake Barack Obama could have made is to change quite a few things in his Afghanistan policy. He increased the number of troops and at the same time set the US withdrawal date to 2014.
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Change Country Few Made Mistake People Policy Quite Thing
We should have built a State in Afghanistan with an army and a police force first.
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Army Build Country First Force Police State
This year we watched the collapse of Mali, a consequence of the Libyan civil war. The south of Libya and Mali, and Niger too, are well on the way to becoming a no-man’s land. After 9/11,
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After Collapse Consequences Land Mall Man No South War Watched
In my view, the Western model of influencing the development of third world countries is doomed to failure.
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Country Development Doomed Effort Failure Influencing Model Western World
The Americans make their usual recommendations. They want to train the army for the fight with the rebels. US special forces are already in Mali.
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Army Country Fight Force Rebel Recommendation Special
The United States only knows one form of intervention and that is the military one. Everything depends on drawn weapons. We should, however, develop a wider scope of action. And we should learn to be patient.
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Action Know Military One Patient United States

The key to breaking the Taliban taboo against women and the cultural brainwashing that the Taliban imposed upon many Afghans is to get women back into the workforce.

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The key to breaking the Taliban taboo against women and the cultural brainwashing that the Taliban imposed upon many Afghans is to get women back into the workforce.

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Popular Authors

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