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	<title>WorldCategory: Afghanistan &#124; World &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>WorldCategory: Afghanistan &#124; World &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Afghan Taliban Attack Near Kabul Airport</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/06/09/insurgents-attack-military-side-of-afghan-airport/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/06/09/insurgents-attack-military-side-of-afghan-airport/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jun 2013 02:18:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Patrick Quinn and Rahim Faiez</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=89217</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Seven heavily armed Taliban fighters launched a pre-dawn attack near Afghanistan&#8217;s main airport Monday, apparently targeting NATO&#8217;s airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and at least one large bomb. Two Afghan civilians were wounded and all the attackers were killed after an hours-long battle. It was one of three attacks on state facilities in the morning by insurgents around the country. Another six militants wearing suicide bomb vests tried to storm the provincial council building in the capital of southern Zabul province, while three attempted to attack a district police headquarters just outside Kabul. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said that in Zabul they managed to wound 18 people, including three police officers, when they detonated a car bomb outside the building in the city of Qalat, but security forces shot and killed them before they managed to enter. On the outskirts of Kabul, police killed one attacker and arrested two others who tried to storm the headquarters building in the Surobi district. In the capital, it was the third time in a month that insurgents have launched a major attack seeking high-profile targets, part of an effort to rattle public confidence as Afghan security forces take over most responsibility for protecting the country ahead of the withdrawal of foreign troops next year. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would not be deterred by the attacks. (MORE: Unease in Afghanistan as Foreign Troops Withdraw and Aid Shrinks) &#8220;These cowardly terrorist attacks on the Afghan people cannot change the chosen path of the Afghan people toward progress, development, peace and elections,&#8221; Karzai said, referring to next spring&#8217;s poll to elect a new head of state. Karzai was not in Kabul during the attack, but was visiting the Gulf state of Qatar, where he was discussing his country&#8217;s stalled peace process and the possible opening of a Taliban office in Doha. Both Afghanistan and the United States support the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar as part of an effort to rekindle talks with the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=89217&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Afghanistan Militants Attack Red Cross Guest House</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/05/29/afghanistan-militants-attack-red-cross-guest-house/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/05/29/afghanistan-militants-attack-red-cross-guest-house/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 May 2013 15:13:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=88108</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Militants launched a coordinated assault on a guest house used by the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday, blasting through the gates with a suicide bomber before storming the building and setting off an ongoing gun battle, officials said. The attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad is the second major assault against an international organization in five days. Militants launched a similar operation against a U.N.-affiliated group in Kabul last week that killed three people. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said Wednesday&#8217;s attack in Jalalabad began just before dusk with a suicide blast at the entrance to the guest house compound belonging to the Red Cross. &#8220;The initial reporting shows that two other people have entered the building,&#8221; Abulzai said. &#8220;Right now a gun battle is going on between the Afghan security forces and the attackers. We have reports of one guard of the guest house being killed as a result of the attack. From the battle we have no reports of other casualties.&#8221; (MORE: NATO Service Member Killed in Afghanistan) The Red Cross confirmed the attack but had no other details. &#8220;We can confirm that there has been an attack on our offices in Jalalabad. We are working to find out the whereabouts and well-being of our colleagues,&#8221; said Robin Waudo, communications coordinator for the Red Cross in Afghanistan. An AP photographer at the scene said smoke can be seen rising from the vicinity of the guest house and the crackle of gunfire can be heard. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and it is unclear why insurgents would want to target the Red Cross, which not only carries out humanitarian work around Afghanistan but also is the conduit for families to communicate with detainees taken off the battlefield, including the Taliban. The Red Cross warned last month that security was deteriorating across Afghanistan as militants flood the battlefield and conduct attacks in what could be the most important spring fighting season of the nearly 12-year-old<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=88108&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Viewpoint: Cash for Karzai — Don’t Blame the CIA for Flushing Money Down the Drain</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/05/01/viewpoint-cash-for-karzai/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/05/01/viewpoint-cash-for-karzai/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 20:51:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Baer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=84761</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are few hard and fast rules in espionage, but this is one of them: Never admit to taking CIA money. Afghan President Hamid Karzai did just that when he confessed to press allegations that for more than a decade he’d been regularly collecting CIA stipends. Karzai claimed the money went for various official expenses, but does anyone believe it? Anyone who knows anything about Karzai’s Afghanistan will tell you it’s much more likely the money ended up in the private Dubai bank account of one of his relatives or retainers, or funneled to a brutal warlord who’s making the United States more enemies than he’s killing. Before the world-weary reader starts to tut-tut that the CIA hasn’t gotten any smarter in all these years, he should factor in that the CIA knows full well that dropping bags of cash on American pawns and tin-pot dictators is an utter waste of money. It may buy the United States an occasional hearing, but at the end of the day, the recipients will do anything they damn well please. It has always been so. (MORE: See TIME International&#8217;s Cover Story on Karzai) In the ‘90s I returned from overseas to be told I’d have to do some time in the penalty box: namely, help “handle” the Iraqi opposition leaders. At the time many of them were spread across Europe’s capitals, but mostly in London. I don’t need to get into names here, but what’s important is to understand that when the CIA started seriously backing Saddam’s opposition after his 1990 invasion of Kuwait, we were well aware the money was going down a rat hole. One Iraqi exile I used to meet, a former senior military officer, fled Iraq to London in the ‘80s. In order to make a living, he set about establishing a reputation as the man to see about unseating Saddam. He let it be known that with a little money he could organize a putsch against Hussein, something quick and relatively bloodless. He started out life in exile<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=84761&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/2013-04-24t121423z_1767532250_gm1e94o1.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">From Left: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry greets Afghan President Hamid Karzai before a meeting with Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (not pictured) in Brussels, on April 24, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor9</media:title>
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		<title>How Afghanistan Is Beginning to Deal With Workplace Sexual Harassment</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/29/how-afghanistan-is-beginning-to-deal-with-workplace-sexual-harassment/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/29/how-afghanistan-is-beginning-to-deal-with-workplace-sexual-harassment/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:08:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mujib Mashal / Kabul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=77819</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the razor wire, the blast walls and the security checks around Kabul’s presidential palace clearly suggest, Afghans employed by the government have a lot to be concerned about just by walking to the office. But for Afghan women employees there is an additional hazard: the security officers there ostensibly for their safety as well as the drivers of government vehicles. According to one female employee of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) — located just 200 m from the presidential palace — the women are constantly accosted by the “suggestive gaze, the nonstop whistling, the catcalling, the unnecessary coughing” of the security officers as they make their way to work. Indeed, many of the 35 women who work at IDLG — who make up less than 10% of the total staff — are often forced to avoid the main path to their offices. Sexual harassment at the workplace — as well as lack of mechanisms to address complaints arising from it — is one of the main impediments to female participation in the workforce. And the behavior is rampant. In civilian institutions, there are constant reports of verbal and physical harassment, blackmailing for sexual favors and the use of authority to coerce sex, according to interviews with several female workers, activists as well as independent studies. A report by Women for Afghan Women found “a complete lack of policies and procedures with respect to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination” in government ministries. It is no surprise that women make up less than 1% of the police force: senior staff demand sexual favors for women to receive promotions and grants of leave. Junior police officers have, in private conversation with activists, reported groping and touching by male superiors, but they can’t officially file complaints fearing repercussion. (MORE: The Enemy Within) &#8220;Women who work in public offices tell me that there is a growing sexual demands at the workplace that never existed before &#8230; even the women who had been working there for like years,” says Wazhma Frogh, executive director<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=77819&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/wp162061438.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Afghan women and labourers with wheelbarrows walk down a lane in Kabul on Feb. 19, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>How Afghanistan Is on the Leading Edge of a Tech Revolution</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/02/how-afghanistan-is-on-the-leading-edge-of-a-tech-revolution/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/02/how-afghanistan-is-on-the-leading-edge-of-a-tech-revolution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:36:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Erik Heinrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=72232</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the eyes of the rest of the world, war-torn Afghanistan is a place with beaten-down infrastructure, the minimum of modern amenities and certainly none of the services made possible by the latest technological advances powering the Internet, financial services and telecommunications. Surprisingly, however, Afghanistan is on the leading edge of the mobile-money and banking revolution sweeping through developing countries from Kenya to Indonesia. For example, these days it’s not at all unusual to see an Afghan policeman on Kabul’s security cordon, known as the Ring of Steel, checking his Nokia 1101 to verify that his monthly salary has been transferred to his mobile wallet. Then, just as quickly, texting a sum of money to his wife’s mobile phone in rural Afghanistan so she can buy groceries for the family or a new propane tank for the kitchen. Nothing this slick exists in the U.S. or most other G-7 countries, but in Afghanistan — a country of 30 million where nearly 70% of the population is illiterate and fewer than 5% of people have a bank account — this scenario is part of reality. &#8220;I&#8217;m not aware of any such deployment in the U.S.,&#8221; says Tomasz Smilowicz, managing director at Citi&#8217;s Global Transaction Services in New York, referring to Afghanistan&#8217;s mobile-money service, known locally as M-Paisa. &#8220;It&#8217;s a success, no questions about it.&#8221; M-Paisa was first introduced in the country in 2009 as a trial to pay the Afghan national police with mobile money instead of cash. The results were immediate and dramatic: costs dropped by 10% because it eliminated phantom payments to nonexistent officers pocketed by middlemen. And the rest of the force thought they had received a 30% salary increase because these same middlemen were no longer able to skim cash from legitimate salaries. (MORE: Companies Struggle to Popularize Mobile Money) Fast-forward to the present and M-Paisa — a joint venture between Afghanistan&#8217;s biggest telecom provider Roshan and British multinational Vodafone — has more than 1.2 million subscribers, according to the Afghan Mobile Money Operators Association. And it’s<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=72232&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor7</media:title>
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		<title>Missed Opportunity in Afghanistan: We Forgot to Pay the Preachers</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/27/missed-opportunity-in-afghanistan-we-forgot-to-pay-the-preachers/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/27/missed-opportunity-in-afghanistan-we-forgot-to-pay-the-preachers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:07:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mujib Mashal / Kapisa</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mosques]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[preachers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=71466</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The assailants first came for Mullah Mohamed Hatif two years ago. It was a snowy winter night and he was making his way home after leading the evening prayer at his mosque. Two men, their faces covered, clubbed him in between his shoulders. He fell face down on the snow. They took his book ofsermons with thirty years of notes on its margins. Hatif&#8217;s back hurt for 15 days, but undeterred, he continued to preach the kind of sermons many in his home district of Kohistan, in northeastern Afghanistan, believes made him a target. &#8220;Don&#8217;t blow up the bridge, the road,&#8221; the 63-year old would tell his congregation of roughly 800, his voice echoing in the village through the two sky-blue loudspeakers mounted on top of the one-story building. &#8220;Study chemistry, study biology, study English because we have huge mines that are untapped yet we can barely produce a plastic jug.&#8221; With a degree in education in 1960s, Hatif has taught science and literature in local high schools for nearly four decades. &#8220;I haven&#8217;t taken my hand off the chalk all these years,&#8221; he says proudly. He became a preacher by pursuing part-time religious studies for nearly 20 years. Hatif personifies the moderate Afghanistan that the United States has been trying to foster. However, many observers fear that goal is slipping away as the U.S. and its coalition wind down their involvement in the country. Hatif is practically a self-starter, unsupported by NATO and a beleaguered government. Instead, a new, well-networked, technologically savvy radicalism has emerged across the country in recent years. Through effective networking, TV and radio evangelism, and the use of mass communication platforms, they have won unprecedented reach across the country in the past decade. The movement is now targeting urban, educated youth largely outside the traditional sphere of radicalization, the madrassas. (MORE: The Loneliness of the Afghan President: Karzai on His Own) While the U.S. and its international allies have poured billions into infrastructure and security over the last 11 years, they may have missed a<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=71466&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/104462381-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Man prays in mosque in Afghanistan</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
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		<title>Retrograde Lessons: Learning from Afghanistan’s Logistical Nightmare</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/retrograde-lessons-learning-from-afghanistans-logistical-nightmare/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/retrograde-lessons-learning-from-afghanistans-logistical-nightmare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:45:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nate Rawlings / Bagram Airbase</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=67207</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In dismantling and repatriating the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, guidelines for the next war – or humanitarian catastrophe In a scene from the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Prof. Severus Snape describes potion-making as a “subtle science and exact art.” Those words could well describe military logistics. Much has, of course, been written about the exact art and subtle science of moving troops great distances; of feeding them and housing them; of equipping, arming, and resupplying them while the fight rages; and of bringing them—and their material support—back home once hostilities draw to a close. Mention the topic to logisticians in uniform, and you’ll probably hear some version of the line, “Amateurs talk tactics, but professionals talk logistics,” a quote often attributed to General Robert H. Barrow, the 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps. (MORE: Pulling Out…Without Giving Up) For the past 11 years, logisticians have had their hands full in Afghanistan. For one, the country is land locked and far from a seaport. The terrain, especially in the strategically important east, is covered with mountains; and the country’s road network is much less advanced than the one in Iraq. Over the years, the Air Force and Army airdropped supplies on remote bases, from large parts for military vehicles parachuted out of airplanes to “Speedballs,” body bags filled with water and ammunition, that could be tossed out of a helicopter to resupply troops under fire. For most of the past decade, the logistical focus has been on getting equipment out to troops fighting in remote areas. “Doctrine states when you’re starting an operation, it’s always a push,” says Major Rosendo Pagan, executive officer of the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. But with less than 23 months before the vast majority of U.S. troops are out of Afghanistan, logisticians have focused much of their efforts on what Pagan calls “the pull phase”: bringing equipment back from far-flung outposts. In addition to combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Pagan has served as a logistics advisor in U.S. Southern Command,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=67207&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/retrograde-lessons-learning-from-afghanistans-logistical-nightmare/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/koy2013020400033.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Civilian contractors work to drain a large puddle following a winter rain at Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan, Jan. 31, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeadmin</media:title>
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		<title>Algeria&#8217;s Hostage Crisis: What Was Behind a Shadowy Militant Leader&#8217;s Plot?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/18/is-algerias-hostage-crisis-a-militant-leaders-effort-to-eclipse-rival-jihadis/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/18/is-algerias-hostage-crisis-a-militant-leaders-effort-to-eclipse-rival-jihadis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Geo-political tensions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Cameron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extremists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Osama bin Laden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[radicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sahel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrrorism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64556</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A day after Algerian forces launched a military raid to end a deadly hostage crisis at a natural gas plant, confusion reigned on Jan. 18 over the fate of the captives and their Islamist captors. Western leaders, some of whose citizens were among the hostages, expressed frustration at having heard little from Algerian officials about the continuing standoff, and some governments signaled alarm over the Jan. 17 operation that Algerian authorities admit resulted in the death of an undisclosed number of hostages. Security officials in Europe indicate that their services too have not obtained or been offered much intelligence on the unfolding crisis. &#8220;The lack of information and secrecy doesn&#8217;t surprise me at all when you&#8217;re dealing with Algerian authorities used to doing as they please, according to their own interests and without consulting anyone,&#8221; says a senior French antiterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity. &#8220;When it comes to Islamist situations, they’re particularly rigid in shooting first and asking questions later. We&#8217;ve always considered hostage scenarios a nightmare, because they trap you between maniac extremist kidnappers and trigger-happy Algerian security officials. The margin for people coming out alive in such situations is reduced considerably.&#8221; (MORE: Westerners Kidnapped in North Africa — but Is France the Real Target?) The situation in and around the In Amenas hostage scene was almost as chaotic on the afternoon of Jan. 18 as it was 24 hours earlier after the raid by Algerian forces seeking to end the siege. Algeria&#8217;s state-run APS news agency cited unidentified officials as saying that four hostages — two Britons and two Filipinos — died during that operation, while two other plant workers were killed during the initial Islamist raid on Jan. 16. Scores of foreign hostages and perhaps hundreds of Algerian captives reportedly escaped during the government assault on the BP facility, although the number of abductees freed has yet to be revealed by Algerian officials. &#8220;The operation resulted in the neutralizing of a large number of terrorists and liberation of a considerable number of hostages,&#8221; Algerian Communications Minister<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64556&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-algeria-hostages-0118.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, Oct. 8, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Can the U.S. Leave Behind “Afghan-Sustainable” Military Bases?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/10/04/can-the-u-s-leave-behind-afghan-sustainable-military-bases/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/10/04/can-the-u-s-leave-behind-afghan-sustainable-military-bases/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:49:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Wendle / Combat Outpost Garda, Wardak Province</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[military base]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=48160</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As one outpost is prepared for a handover, a report raises the risks attendant upon the departure of American forces<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=48160&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/afghanistan/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_010_wardak_time_wendle_img_9325.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">tepous</media:title>
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		<title>Afghanistan’s Insider War Against the U.S.: A Matter of No Trust</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/10/01/afghanistans-insider-war-against-the-u-s-a-matter-of-no-trust/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/10/01/afghanistans-insider-war-against-the-u-s-a-matter-of-no-trust/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:41:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Wendle / Combat Outpost Garda, Wardak Province</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green on blue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[killing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leon Panetta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[us]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=47593</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Saturday marked the 2,000th U.S. military death in the war in Afghanistan. And it is the way in which the American soldier was reportedly killed – by a presumptive Afghan ally – that makes it significant. These so-called green-on-blue attacks are rarely spectacular – often carried out suddenly, by rifle. Even so, these insider attacks are proving to be the perfect weapon against coalition forces since they accomplish many of the insurgents’ goals with little planning, effort or cost. Increasingly, coalition troops feel they cannot trust the Afghan soldiers and police with whom they live and serve. The killings drive a wedge of mistrust deeper between foreign and Afghan forces and they also cause the American public to question why Washington is helping the Afghan government and military at all. And these doubts and questions are critical because, in order for the U.S. to declare any kind of victory after the 2014 withdrawal, it has to train and mentor a viable Afghan security force that will respect human rights and prevent a much-feared civil war or Taliban takeover. (PHOTOS: Afghanistan Now, Photographs by Yuri Kozyrev) The mistrust and tension was visible during a recent trip to Combat Outpost Garda, in northern Wardak Province. As a U.S. patrol wound its way back over barren, brown hills and through the sunny orchards of apples that make this valley famous among Afghans, word passed back through the soldiers that an Afghan National Army (ANA) patrol would be heading out as they headed in. One soldier joked that he hoped the Afghans would not shoot the patrol as they came in.Some laughed. Soon after, an American lieutenant’s voice crackled through the leaves of the trees from the communications devices carried by all troops, telling the patrol to keep a sharp eye as they returned. Not such a joke, after all. The actual ability of Afghan troops to help—rather than hurt—coalition partners is risible. At a recent mentoring session in Garda, for example, Afghan soldiers came huffing through the loose gravel of the camp, practicing<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=47593&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2012/10/01/afghanistans-insider-war-against-the-u-s-a-matter-of-no-trust/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/003_garda_wardak_wendle_img_7894_t.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">timeadmin</media:title>
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		<title>After November: 5 Middle East Headaches That Await the U.S.</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/10/01/after-november-five-mideast-headaches-looming-for-the-u-s/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/10/01/after-november-five-mideast-headaches-looming-for-the-u-s/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2012 09:45:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abbas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intervention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Khamenei]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MEK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morsi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[refugee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[two state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[withdrawal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=47201</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[1. Despite Netanyahu&#8217;s Retreat, Avoiding War with Iran Will Get Harder For all of his summer saber rattling and efforts to pressure the Obama Administration into stating imminent red lines for war with Iran, Israel&#8217;s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu effectively retreated at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday. Despite the familiar apocalyptic rhetoric, Netanyahu took care to signal Israel&#8217;s cooperation with the Obama Administration on the issue. More important, he drew his own red line &#8212; somewhat confusingly, given the much lampooned graphic on which he relied &#8212; at Iran possessing a sufficient stockpile of 20% enriched uranium to reprocess into one bomb&#8217;s worth of highly enriched uranium. At present rates of enrichment, he claimed, that point would be reached next spring or summer. Leave aside the considerable body of expert opinion that holds that the U.S. would have a lot more time than Netanyahu suggests to respond to an overt move by Iran to build nuclear weapons, the Israeli leader nonetheless once again wound forward his doomsday alarm clock, setting it to ring sometime early next year. That seemed to take off the table the threat of an Israeli strike over U.S. objections before November&#8217;s election. But the occupant of the Oval Office early next year may face a more acute crisis: sanctions have not so far changed Iran&#8217;s nuclear calculations, and such concessions as Iran has offered by way of capping its nuclear work are not ones that the Obama Administration has been ready to accept as a basis for easing sanctions. Iran doesn&#8217;t trust the U.S. any more than the U.S. trusts Iran, and Tehran believes the real purpose of the sanctions is to create economic chaos in the hope of provoking an uprising against the regime. Such suspicions will have been heightened by Friday&#8217;s U.S. decision to remove the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, an exile armed group that fought for Saddam Hussein against Iran in the 1980s and which is widely reviled even among leaders of the opposition Green Movement, from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. (MORE: Apocalyptic Talk Aside, Israel<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=47201&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/aleppo.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">aleppo</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>The Toulouse Terrorist: Was He or Was He Not a Lone Wolf?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/08/24/the-toulouse-terrorist-was-he-or-was-he-not-a-lone-wolf/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/08/24/the-toulouse-terrorist-was-he-or-was-he-not-a-lone-wolf/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:29:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bruce Crumley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intelligence failure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mohammed Merah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toulouse]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=41824</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Was self-proclaimed al Qaeda member and Toulouse killer Mohammed Merah the lone wolf that French officials initially suggested? Or did he actually rely on active support of fellow radicals in both France and abroad in mounting his spree of slaying last March? Those questions were raised anew Aug. 23 by a story in French daily le Monde indicating Merah had far more numerous contacts with suspected extremists than previously known—and took pains to keep nearly 2,000 telephone calls to those people secret. Yet French authorities warn TIME that despite the sinister-sounding details of the Monde story, information in it doesn’t contradict what they’ve known for months. Nor, they add, do they reveal Merah had any significant assistance in conceiving and executing his three shooting attacks beyond training he received from al-Qaeda figures during a previously known visit to Pakistan. The story in Thursday evening’s edition of le Monde details recently declassified intelligence documents the paper viewed. Le Monde says the intelligence reports show that Merah—whose killing spree of seven people ended with his own death during a dramatic police siege March 22—made 1,863 calls or sent text messages to numerous people in 20 nations. Those spanned the U.K., Egypt, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco and Bhutan—where Merah called nine different numbers&#8211;between September 2010 and late February 2011. Le Monde’s report also quotes intelligence analyses detailing Merah’s international travels during the same period, notably to Middle Eastern nations and Afghanistan. All that, the article proposes, seriously undermines the view counter-terrorism authorities have given that Merah was a self-radicalized &#8220;lone wolf&#8221;. The article says French intelligence services first kept an eye on Merah’s older brother Abdelkader—an outspoken Salafist figure in Toulouse—in 2008, as well as their sister Souad in 2010. At times, Mohammed Merah also appeared on their radar screen, leading French security services to start watching the young delinquent’s movements and contacts carefully. Indeed, following Merah’s 2011 trip to Afghanistan—and arrest and expulsion by U.S. forces as a security threat—the budding jihadist was himself placed under close surveillance. It was during<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=41824&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Terrorism</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/terrorism/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/toulouse_suspect_0322.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">girondins33</media:title>
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		<title>Must-Reads from Around the World, July 24, 2012</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/07/24/must-reads-from-around-the-world-july-24-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/07/24/must-reads-from-around-the-world-july-24-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jul 2012 10:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME.com</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Central Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreign Investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghan President Hamid Karzai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Assam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[city-states]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Der Spiegel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global Post]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Honduras]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Romer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace talks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sectarian violence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[semi-autonomous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TED talk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the Hindu]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=37032</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Calling for Discretion &#8211; Germany&#8217;s Der Spiegel reveals Afghan President Hamid Karzai has asked Berlin to act as a &#8220;discreet go-between&#8221; with the Taliban in the hopes of paving the way for eventual peace talks. &#8220;It is a role that Germany has played before &#8212; in an effort that was ultimately torpedoed by Karzai himself,&#8221; said the magazine. &#8220;It remains uncertain whether a second attempt could succeed,&#8221; it added. Starting Anew &#8211; Boston-based Global Post reports from Trujillo, Honduras, where the government hopes to build a new semi-autonomous city-state with its own governing charter &#8220;made up of tried-and-tested political, economic and social regulations gleaned from around the world.&#8221; The controversial idea to create special development regions to attract outside investors was inspired by a 2011 TED talk by Paul Romer, a New York University economist, it said. Sectarian Strife &#8211; India&#8217;s the Hindu newspaper reports from the troubled northeastern state of Assam, where the local government issued shoot-at-sight orders in one district Monday in response to communal violence. &#8220;Miscreants &#8230; set ablaze houses in several villages forcing residents to take shelter in relief camps,&#8221; it wrote. The death toll has risen to 20; meanwhile more than 40,000 people have fled their homes and taken shelter in 47 camps, it added. Middle Class Mexico &#8211; The Washington Post examines the boost of returning migrants to Mexico&#8217;s middle class. The longer migrants remain in the United States, &#8220;the more likely the cash transfers will be used to start new businesses or to pay for homes, farm equipment and school tuitions,&#8221; and the more opportunities there are for upward mobility. Net migration has also reached zero for the time in 40 years. Last year, the number of Mexicans migrating and returning was roughly equivalent. Street of Death &#8211; CNN observes the wreckage of the Bab el Hawa highway, the strategic crossroads abandoned by the Syrian government.  Dubbed the &#8220;Street of Death&#8221; by rebel fighters, until recently &#8220;anyone who dared set foot on it became a target.&#8221; It has since become a &#8220;bullet-riddled ghost town patrolled by<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=37032&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Daily Briefing</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/daily-briefing/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/360_karzai_1115.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Afghan President Hamid Karzai</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
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		<title>The Taliban Execution: What Happens When a Nation Fails</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/07/09/the-taliban-execution-what-happens-when-a-nation-fails/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/07/09/the-taliban-execution-what-happens-when-a-nation-fails/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aryn Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[donors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamid Karzai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parwan province]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reuters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taliban execution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=34776</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Three shots ring out in close succession, and the woman’s shawl-shrouded body slumps to the ground. Whoops, cheers and praise to Allah follow another four shots into her inert form. The latest video footage to come out of Afghanistan purports to show the execution of an allegedly adulterous woman at the hands of the Taliban. The video, filmed last month on a mobile phone and obtained by Reuters, is shocking. But even more atrocious is the fact that such incidents are on the rise in Afghanistan, from Taliban executions to gruesome punishments like cutting off noses and ears, whippings and the forced amputations of hands for accusations of theft. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission notes that cases of extreme violence against women are on the rise — some are Taliban-inflicted, but many are simply eruptions of ancient forms of tribal justice unchecked by Afghan society and the government. The Taliban, after all, based their extreme edicts not just on a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law but also on tribal traditions that predate Islam. This latest video, as many have pointed out, supposedly presages the fate of Afghanistan’s women when foreign troops pull out over the next 2½ years. But the fact that such punishments continue to be meted out even with some 100,000 foreign troops still on the ground in Afghanistan is an indication that when it comes to women’s rights at least, the 11-year experiment in nation building has come to very little. And that has less to do with the commitment to women than with the weak support for education across the board. Sure, more than 3 million Afghan girls are in school today, more than ever before in the history of Afghanistan, up from nearly zero in 2000. But few of those girls go on to secondary school, and those who do are usually in the urban areas. Rural Afghanistan, as evinced by the video, has changed little. That execution took place in Shinwari district, about an hour&#8217;s drive from the paved roads and glass-fronted office blocks of Kabul, but centuries<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=34776&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Viewpoint</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/viewpoint/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/world_afghanistan_execution.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Men watch as an alleged member of the Taliban fires his rifle at a woman accused of adultery in this still image taken from undated footage released July 7, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">arynbaker</media:title>
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		<title>Taliban Terror or Mass Hysteria: Who Is Poisoning Afghanistan&#8217;s Girls?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/07/06/taliban-terror-or-mass-hysteria-who-is-poisoning-afghanistans-girls/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/07/06/taliban-terror-or-mass-hysteria-who-is-poisoning-afghanistans-girls/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Amy Friedman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Af-Pak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mass hysteria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world health organization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=34234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On April 17, 150 girls were transported from their school in the Afghan province of Takhar to a hospital, reporting signs of dizziness, nausea and headaches. Some fainted, and some were vomiting when they arrived; all were released after a few hours. A month later, at least 120 more girls and three teachers in the same province complained of the same symptoms and were again taken in. The next week, 160 girls in Taluquan, the capital of Takhar province, reported being ill. All of these incidents were followed by reports suggesting that either the schools’ air or drinking water had been contaminated. School poisonings have been going on for over three years in Afghanistan — but the recent spate marks a large increase from years past. On June 6, the Afghan government officially accused the Taliban of poisoning hundreds of girls across the country. But results from chemical testings of school wells and samples taken from the afflicted students show no strange toxins; analysts also suggest that the Taliban do not possess the sophistication to create chemicals that would leave no trace. Still, one man has since confessed to paying girls to take chemicals in their schools. “It was wrong, it was un-Islamic, and it was my fault,” the suspect told a BBC reporter as an Afghan intelligence officer looked on. “I made a mistake.” The man is one of three suspects being held for questioning about the events by the Afghan government; 15 were originally arrested. (PHOTOS: Women of Afghanistan Under Taliban Threat) Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban denies that they would target young girls despite their open opposition to the education of girls and women. They blame Pakistani infiltrators. Still others, the World Health Organization included, say there have been no poisonings at all (as there is, indeed, no concrete evidence that has been found) and that young girls are simply experiencing the somewhat rare phenomenon of mass hysteria from living in a war-torn country their entire lives. The evidence for mass hysteria is in fact fairly convincing. The<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=34234&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/afghanistan-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/afghan_poisoning_0706.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Afghan School Girls Poisoned</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor3</media:title>
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