because they felt more hopeful that their own troubles might some day be over.

I am sure there are many Afghans who feel the same way.

One scenario would be to consider Afghanistan a perpetrator, as we considered the warlords of the Emperor perpetrators; once they were vanquished, we helped reconstruct the country along non-authoritarian lines, even though in doing so we adopted an authoritarian stance perforce. That done, the country proceeded to flourish, with other help but also because of its own intrinsic survival drive.

Given that Afghanistan is currently a ruined nation where public hangings and stonings for minor religous offenses are acceptable, we could do worse. Make it a showpiece for democracy, an ally for sensible economic progress and liberal and tolerant public proceedings under a consitution, and we'd be doing the whole region a favor. Especially considering that the Bear would no longer be in a position to act like a poaranoid psychotic aboutit and would probably be glad to see it happen.

This may seem arrogant in the extreme, and you may sue me.... but we do have a case history as precedent.

A.