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I Love Afghanistan

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  I Love Afghanistan In a quiet suburb of Mission Viejo, California, stood a comfortable single-family home. It belonged to an Afghan-born American named Khwaja Sediq Sangarmal and his second wife, Amina. He had left Afghanistan in the early 1990s, not long after the government he had served collapsed and the men who replaced it began asking inconvenient questions about people like him. For nearly three decades he had worked as an insurance salesman. Now retired, he spent his days collecting Social Security checks, exercising at the gym, and commenting passionately on Afghan politics from ten thousand miles away. From his bedroom window, which overlooked a swimming pool and several shade trees he had planted years earlier, he glanced at his watch. It was 9:00 a.m. Time for the gym. Standing before the mirror, he carefully shaved his white beard and examined the wrinkles gathering around his eyes. In the kitchen, Amina was preparing breakfast. He loved paratha fried in ses...
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هرات: ازگوهرشاد بیکم تا طالب

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  وقایع ناگوار هرات، جایی که طالبان با زنان غیرمسلح تنها به جرم درخواست حقوق اساسی و انسانی‌شان با خشونت برخورد کردند، بار دیگر چهره واقعی این گروه را آشکار ساخت. این برخورد بی‌رحمانه و غیرانسانی این پرسش را به ذهن متبادر می‌کند که چگونه گروهی که مدعی شکست دادن یک ابرقدرت مانند آمریکا است، از اعتراضات مسالمت‌آمیز چند زن چنین هراس دارد؟ به باور من، این رفتار بیش از آنکه نشانه قدرت باشد، بیانگر ترس و بیم نهفته‌ای است که در درون این گروه وجود دارد. طالبان شاید در ظاهر قدرتمند به نظر برسند، اما در باطن همچون «ببر کاغذی» از آسیب‌پذیری خود آگاه‌اند و از هر صدای مخالف بیم دارند . هرات روزگاری در دوران گوهرشاد بیگم یکی از درخشان‌ترین مراکز علم، فرهنگ، هنر و معماری جهان اسلام بود. او نقشی اساسی در شکوفایی هرات در عصر تیموریان داشت؛ دوره‌ای که بسیاری آن را «عصر طلایی هرات» می‌نامند. اما امروز همان هرات، زیر حاکمیت طالبان، به شهری خاموش و افسرده بدل شده است . این وضعیت مرا به یاد بیت مشهور می‌اندازد دوشم گذر افتاد به ویرانهٔ طوس دیدم که جغدی نشسته جای طاووس گفتم که تورا چی خبراست ...
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Afghanistan's Political Crisis Can Be solved in 24 Hours

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  Afghanistan's Political Crisis Can Be Solved in 24 Hours By Wahab Raofi Everyone agrees: Afghanistan is a failed state. The problems are too complex — social sclerosis, economic collapse, foreign interference, ethnic rivalries. No magic wand can unravel it. That's the consensus, shared by Afghans themselves and the international community. I disagree — partially. Afghanistan's economic ruin, its infrastructure deficit, its decades of trauma: none of that resolves quickly. But the political crisis at the heart of it all? That can be decided in 24 hours. Not by magic. By a single decision. The Root Is Not Mystery — It's Monopoly For much of modern Afghan history, political power has been concentrated among southern Durrani Pashtun elites. Yet under King Zaher Shah — a Durrani himself — cabinet positions were shared among Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras. During the Karzai era, many Afghans believed the days of ethnic monopoly were over. Then came the Soviet occupation. That ...
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Last Night I became the President of the United State of America

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  The Blue Dolphin Dream Last night, I became the President of the United States. Here is how it happened. After a month of careful preparation, my campaign manager, Mr. Hercules Battor, and I met behind closed doors to choose the proper moment to announce my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. New Hampshire On the following Friday morning, we launched our campaign in New Hampshire, at a grand convention center. Hundreds of enthusiastic supporters filled the hall, waving banners that read: Long Live the Blue Dolphin Party. Long Live Wahab. A loud, booming voice rang out from the crowd — Long live the new Blue Dolphin Party! Long live the party of equality! Long live the party of peace! — and the chanting continued for several minutes. And there I was, standing behind the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen," I began, "today is a historic moment in the history of America. A man born in a poor corner of the world is standing before you. You do not have to be bor...
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Afghanistan's Opehn Wound

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  Afghanistan's Owen Wound.  Pakistan Bomb, Taliban Watches and Afghans Die  When a lorry overturned on the road from Kunar Province to Kabul, it killed an entire Afghan family — parents, children, everyone. The accident was attributed to exhausted roads, an exhausted driver, and the absence of anyone enforcing any rule anywhere. The headlines moved on quickly. They should not have. The family was not traveling for work or opportunity. They were running for their lives — fleeing a sustained Pakistani artillery and mortar campaign that has pounded Kunar and neighboring border provinces for two decades, killing and maiming civilians whose only offense is living there. Pakistan justifies the bombardment by claiming that the TTP — Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the militant group responsible for devastating attacks inside Pakistan — operates from Afghan soil, using the mountains of Kunar as sanctuary. Islamabad has leveled this accusation at every Afghan government in turn: at...
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Getting to Yes wiht Iran

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  Getting to Yes with Iran The lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis is clear: diplomacy succeeds when leaders focus on interests, not ultimatums. By Wahab Raofi If the United States launches new military strikes against Iran, the Middle East will move closer to a wider regional war. According to multiple reports, U.S. forces have already targeted Iranian missile sites and naval assets near the Strait of Hormuz amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran. The danger is not merely another temporary confrontation, but a prolonged conflict that could destabilize the global economy, inflame sectarian violence, disrupt energy markets, and draw major powers into direct confrontation. Because roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz, even limited military escalation could trigger severe economic shocks far beyond the Middle East. At moments like this, history offers an important lesson: diplomacy succeeds when leaders move beyond rig...
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Premature Democracy in Afghanistan

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  Afghanistan and the Problem of Premature Democracy For more than two decades, the international community promoted democracy in Afghanistan as the pathway to peace, stability, and modernization. Elections, political parties, constitutional governance, and parliamentary institutions were presented as the foundations of a new Afghan state after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Yet despite billions of dollars in international assistance and years of foreign military support, the Afghan republic collapsed with astonishing speed in 2021. This failure forces an uncomfortable but necessary question: Was Afghanistan institutionally and socially prepared for democracy in the first place? The answer is not simple, and it should not be approached emotionally or ideologically. The issue is not whether Afghans deserve democracy—they do. Rather, the issue is whether the social foundations necessary for democracy to function successfully currently exist in Afghanistan. Modern democratic syste...
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