Belle's Constant
The ratio of time involved in work to time available for work is usually about 0.6.

The Afghanistan Saga, Part II
Lets get started Again.
Pre - Taliban,1996, the country was ruled by Mujahideens. Apparently there were a lot of fighting going on even then. The country was in a bad shape at that time. The came the Taliban and the Al-Quaeda. The entire economy was thrown into disarray. It was at that time that females were banned education. Then the War against Terror during 2001. Many people fled that country, to Pakistan, Iran and other neighbouring countries. Many buildings and installations were bombed. And many did die.

Then the reconstruction. As said before, there was aid pouring in from different countries, including India. The major contribution, though, was from the US of A. They were mainly responsible for all the rebuilding work, even now.

Security is tight. The city of Kabul is pretty stable, not many attacks there. The same cannot be said for the other cities and towns. Kandahar, some distance south of Kabul, however does not enjoy that security blanket. There are still many random attacks here and there - the recent attack on one of the UN offices in Kabul. If you have been reading the papers, there is now huge meeting going on in Kabul where many leaders have come together to discuss formation of the constitution; as usual, there are many adversaries opposed to it. A rocket was launched at the US Embassy (opposite to where my father stayed), and another at a nearby locality. So it is not all that peaceful.

The political situation is this: Afghanistan is now divided into a number of provinces, each now (after the demise of Taliban goverment) ruled by warlords. Each of them is the dadha of the land. They have their own army and their own set of rules, taxes etc. None of them seem to be responsible to the Central Government, they are almost like individual states. The puppet Central Government was formed by US led President Karzai. The recent meeting taking place now (and just mentioned above) was to discuss whether Afghanistan should have a President leader or a Prime Minister type (like that of India); fears are that a Presidentship may lead to autocracy, dictatorship and more fighting. They are also dicussing about formation of Constitution. Till now, no consensus seems to have been reached.

Anyway, now reconstruction activities and aid is going on inspite of all this. But all this is going to stop, once the aid money flow dries out. One can surmise that pretty soon, when US and other countries withdraw their presence from Afghanistan, the country may go back into turmoil, the warring factions may again fight with each other, the UN may have no real force there. What will all the people do, where will they go?
For a country that has already suffered so much under the Taliban and the bombings, such a nitemarish situation will be but a stake driven into the already heavily wounded body....