According to a consultant for the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Post-Conflict Reconstruction evaluation effort in Afghanistan, the ordinary Afghan is losing faith in his country’s progress and government ability to sustain reconstruction in comparison to one year ago. Seema Patel, who traveled for six weeks in Afghanistan working with Afghan interviewers for the PCR project, found that ordinary Afghans expressed more wariness over security concerns and were only slightly less pessimistic when it comes to the other pillars of reconstruction—governance, justice, economic opportunity, and well-being. She wrote for the PCR online forum that Afghans believe inaccessibility to leaders and corruption are hindering the government’s capacity to meet peoples’ needs.
Two U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew with Japanese fighters over the Sea of Japan after a string of Chinese provocations toward Japan—including a joint bomber patrol with Russia—in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan.
