Changes

[[File:Afg-US1.jpg|thumb|320px|left|American Chinook helicopters from 101st Aviation Regiment depart from Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar]]

[[File:Afg-US1.jpg|thumb|320px|left|American Chinook helicopters from 101st Aviation Regiment depart from Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Kandahar]]

===Weaknesses of the government===

===Weaknesses of the government===

The pro-Karzai Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazara Shiites and Uzbeks that form the ruling coalition are not united, and the government they dominate is extremely weak and poverty-stricken.  The Afghan government controls only 30% of the country. The country is resource-poor -- there is no oil--and the only rich resource is opium poppies. There is no educated base for a competent bureaucracy, and the army is little more than an amateur collection of tribal militias.  90% of the soldiers are illiterate, making them very hard to train to modern standards.

The pro-Karzai Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazara [[Shiite]]s and Uzbeks that form the ruling coalition are not united, and the government they dominate is extremely weak and poverty-stricken.  The Afghan government controls only 30% of the country. The country is resource-poor -- there is no oil--and the only rich resource is [[opium]] poppies. There is no educated base for a competent bureaucracy, and the army is little more than an amateur collection of tribal militias.  90% of the soldiers are illiterate, making them very hard to train to modern standards.

[[File:Afghan3.jpg|thumb|420px|Location of US and NATO combat brigades]]

[[File:Afghan3.jpg|thumb|420px|Location of US and NATO combat brigades]]