DEMOCRACY IS NOT A POSTCARD

From: The Virginia Quarterly Review | Date: January 1, 2008| Author: Schmidle, Nicholas | Copyright information

IRANIAN INFLUENCE IN WESTERN AFGHANISTAN

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I TOOK THE ELEVATOR UP. Afghanistan doesn't have many elevators-after years of war with the Soviet Union followed by more than a decade of Taliban control, most of the country remains in shambles, leading one American pilot during the invasion to lament that Afghanistan was "not a target-rich environment"-but the Herat Trade Center is a flashy, modern structure with eight stories of blue, shimmering, mirrored glass. Qulam Qader Akbar, h...

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