I had a very interesting conversation with a new Engineer we hired about a month ago. He comes from the Waziristan area of Pakistan (yes- he's a Muslim), and has had some first hand experiences with the Pashtun farmers in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. He says that these people are unlike any he's ever met before... they scrape out a hardscrabble existence in the mountains- they're dirt poor, but he says they are the proudest, most fearless people he's ever known. He says they will NEVER be ruled- not by the Brits, the Russians, the Americans or the Taliban. They will fight and kill anyone who tries to take a square foot of their land, and the situation there will not change.
I'm glad there's an exit strategy. Time to leave.