Not realizing that was under the power of the u. N. Secretarygeneral. I might mention the people who are there the delegation was led by foreign minister who i saw in kabul. I dont know if you have met him. He was interned in bob graham for some time. Lucia he who is currently a member of the afghan high priest counsel in kabul and also reconciled bola of dual who was one of the few from top car who was minister of refugees and assassinated in patch our a few weeks ago after returning from a confidential meeting in dubai trying to start a peace process. Their interpreter at that meeting was later the chairman of the central bank and minister of commerce and a president ial candidate in afghanistan and is going to be in the next cabinet so this is a historic room. Its really a pleasure to welcome Dipali Mukhopadhyay who i met first at isi in san diego many years ago through a mutual friend someone who used to work in the Council Forum relations. Let me start by referring to something th
Question in the back . Senator for Public Policy research. What are your thoughts on how conservatives should address the changing demographics of the United States . It isnt the same as goldwater and reagans running time. If you look at the results of the 2012 president ial election allowing for the fact that mitt romney was no conservative given by any stretch. 59 of the white vote but was wiped out in other ethnic and racial groups. How would you market conservatives to the new United States . That is a great question. Got asked that on the lou dobbs show. There are many things we need to do. Number one, above anything else, how do you get the hispanic vote . Simple. Run hispanics. Look for the marco rubios and the ted cruz and susan martinez. We have many ethnic conservatives and we ought to showcase them and put them forward and that will go a long way toward communicating to these various minorities we are in sync with them. I am a big believer that we have got to change the rhet
Since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the United States has found itself in a vexing dilemma wanting to condemn and hold accountable the Taliban regime for persecuting women and girls, harboring terrorists and failing to govern inclusively, but also wanting Afghanistan to avoid famine and civil war, and achieve some economic and political stability. U.S. policymakers have thus tried to balance principle and pragmatism. To exert pressure on the Taliban, the United States has withheld diplomatic recognition and traditional development aid, frozen Afghan Central Bank assets and maintained sanctions on Taliban leaders.
The American war in Afghanistan incurred staggering costs for the United States, Afghans and others over two decades. The U.S. government spent $2.3 trillion, and the war led to the deaths of 2,324 U.S. military personnel, 3,917 U.S. contractors and 1,144 allied troops. For Afghans, the statistics are nearly unimaginable: 70,000 Afghan military and police deaths, 46,319 Afghan civilians (although that is likely a significant underestimation) and some 53,000 opposition fighters killed. Almost 67,000 other people were killed in Pakistan in relation to the Afghan war.
Why are the Taliban stripping away so many of Afghan women’s hard-won freedoms?
That may seem like a facetious question. When the Taliban ruled the country in the 1990s, after all, their regime was known for having some of the world’s harshest restrictions on women. The group still adheres to a fundamentalist vision of Islamic society.
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