Afghanistan is at a critical juncture. That sentence has become cliché, but it is no less true for being so.
Eight years after the overthrow of the Taliban Government, measurable and meaningful progress has been achieved in a broad range of areas. Access to basic medical care has been expanded. Women and ethnic and religious minorities serve at all levels of government. The number of children in school has shot up from less than a million in 2001 to six million today. Local NGOs, once operated clandestinely, are registered with the government and receive assistance from international donors. An overwhelmingly amateur class of journalists has revived Afghanistan’s press.
