There is, as Tony Blair pointed out this week, an "immense amount of detail" to be settled before a multinational but British-led security force can be deployed in Afghanistan. And there is little time for such fine-tuning to be done. A multi-ethnic government is supposed to start leading the country towards a brave new future-free of the closely related scourges of internecine war, drug-smuggling and extreme poverty-on December 22nd. And the regime's chances of holding together will be greatly influenced by the amount of international support, military as well as economic, that it receives.
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