M. Le Blanc (LOC)

M. Le Blanc (LOC), a photo by The Library of Congress on Flickr.

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Brutus:
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

Larry P. Goodson on Afghan History

The war deepened some powerful centrifugal forces within Afghan society and destroyed the government institution

deepened ethnic tensions , the rising of islamist ideology. and

1997  taliban ominous and fear around women.    For first time author was approached by women on the street who were forced into begging or worse by harsh taliban policies that took away their livelihoods.

Afghanistan had become a place of petty, narrow minded intolerance.

Intolerance to degenerated into increasingly virulent ethnic hatred and cleansing.

soviets planted 30 million mines

2 million killed
50% casualties

15,000 Soviets died

soviets pumped out gas from shiberghan

education system completely disrupted

Afghanistan, a despeately underdevelped country attempting to modernize throughout the twentieth centurey, jinnally caught up to the modern world-in high-technoloty warfare.   The result has ben the ruin of the country and society and very nearly the destruction of the people and their culture."   page 5