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Misunderstanding Afghanistan - -

By Craig Charney & Gary Langer

Misunderstanding Afghanistan

By Craig Charney and Gary Langer
Sunday, December 17, 2006

There is a note of panic in American views of Afghanistan today. "All the indicators for Afghanistan have headed south," the Los Angeles Times editorialized. Outside Kabul, "much of the rest of Afghanistan appears to be failing again," Newsweek reported. Sen. John Kerry warned: We are "losing Afghanistan."

These views reflect the belief that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is hemorrhaging support as the Taliban makes a comeback. Karzai is called the "mayor of Kabul," his government lacking authority outside the capital and plagued by corruption. Western troops backing him are said to face widespread hostility.

Yet the full picture in Afghanistan's rugged terrain is more complex. A nationwide ABC News/BBC World Service survey of 1,036 Afghans last month found both good signs and bad.

The Taliban, while active, lacks popular support. Though Karzai's honeymoon is over, he retains majority backing. The Afghan state is relatively weak, but it is present -- and popular -- in most of the country. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan is a country where the populace favors the U.S. and allied military presence.

There's no upsurge of support for the Taliban. Just 10 percent of Afghans hold a favorable opinion of the Muslim extremists, almost unchanged from 2005 and 2004. Taliban supporters are concentrated in the southeast and east, conservative regions bordering ethnically similar part



    
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