KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- Few nations are as remote as Afghanistan. It is almost entirely covered with rugged mountains. In most of its rural areas, people live in ways little changed since the Middle Ages--without electricity, running water, paved roads, hospitals, or schools. Yet the Texas-sized central Asian country of 28.5 million people regularly finds itself in today's headlines.
The reason for that is twofold: Afghanistan is trying to build a Western-style democracy for the ...