Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's rule clash with police near Tahrir Square, Cairo on Wednesday.

News analysis

CAIRO – A court order to suspend parliamentary elections has been welcomed as a victory for the rule of law in Egypt and a rebuff to recent power grabs by the country’s president, Mohamed Morsi.

The Egyptian Administrative Court ruled Wednesday that elections for a lower house of parliament, scheduled to begin April 22, should be indefinitely postponed. By doing so, they overturned an earlier presidential decree, undermining Morsi's political authority.

The court claims that the Shura Council, which bears legislative powers until a lower house is elected and instituted, made amendments to election law and sent it to the president's office without clearing them with the court.

Opposition groups, represented by the National Salvation Front, welcomed the court’s decision.  They had already planned to boycott the elections, calling them anti-democratic and accusing them of being biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

"We have succeeded in halting elections in order to correct the constitutional shame that has struck our constitution ever since new articles were added without being presented to the constitutional court," Ahmed Mahran, a law professor and Director of the Cairo Centre for Political and Legal Studies, said in a statement. 

Mahran said he believed the Shura Council and the presidency had to be kept in check by the power of Egypt's judicial law.

"Those who presume to respect the law, constitution, and judiciary decisions must prove the truth of their allegations," he added.

“To those who think of Egypt as their estate: We will protect Egypt from the pretenders and their perfidy, and continue to confront political thuggery with the law…”

Wednesday’s ruling can be appealed, but the FJP has already indicated it will accept the decision – a move that left many experts questioning whether the group had a change of heart.

Political commentator and publisher Hisham Kassem believes Morsi has been forced to abide by the court's decision in order to save his own future.

Kassem said the president has been raising the political stakes “until it backfired and put him in a corner and it looks like he is going to pay the price for his previous mistakes.”

He added: "Today's newspaper headline reads, 'The Court halts parliamentary election and the presidency respects the process.'  That should not be a headline." 

In other words, Kassem believes Morsi wouldn’t ordinarily respect rule of law – unless, as he said earlier, it’s to Morsi's benefit.  

But some think Morsi’s acquiescence to the court ruling is linked to his meeting last week with Secretary of State John Kerry.

"John Kerry…didn't come [to Egypt] to vacation…but to tap [Morsi] on the head and say 'get your act together, make concessions to the competition, this is not the environment for free and fair elections,'" said Mona Makram Ebeid, a political science professor, Coptic Christian and member of the Shura Council.

"We are still very dependent on the U.S. so I think this was the real message. It came the day after Kerry left," Ebeid added.

But Kassem thinks U.S. leverage is not enough to bail Morsi out of Egypt's growing economic and political quagmire.

"Kerry did speak to him about having to abide by political consensus,” he said. “I do not know whether it had impact, but at this point Morsi is damned, nobody can save him."

NBC News' Charlene Gubash contributed to this report.

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Updated at 9:43 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai sharply criticized the United States in an exclusive interview with NBC News on Thursday, blaming American and NATO forces for some of the growing insecurity in his country. 

"Part of the insecurity is coming to us from the structures that NATO and America created in Afghanistan," Karzai said during a one-on-one interview at the presidential palace. However, he also acknowledged that much of the country's violence was caused by insurgent groups. 

The Taliban are regaining land and power lost after they were toppled by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. Meanwhile, Karzai has gone from being a favorite of Washington under the presidency of George W. Bush, to a thorn in the White House's side with his criticism of American night raids and mounting civilian casualties at the hands of NATO troops. Many in Washington have also grown weary of Karzai, viewing him as ineffective and presiding over a deeply corrupt government.

After 10 years of Karzai's rule, has life improved in Afghanistan?

Karzai, who is serving his second five-year term, also told NBC News that he had sent a letter to President Barack Obama saying that Afghanistan would not sign any new security agreements with the United States until hundreds of prisoners held in U.S. custody were transferred to Afghan authorities.

His criticism of the United States, Afghanistan's most important ally, has come after the start of complex bilateral talks on a security pact on the role the United States would play after most of its troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.

Karzai said the inmates in American detention in Afghanistan were being held in breach of an agreement he and Obama signed in March and must be handed over immediately.   

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

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More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

"We signed the strategic partnership agreement with the expectation and the hope ... the nature of the United States' activities in Afghanistan will change," Karzai said.  But American behavior had not changed, he said, adding that terrorism would not be defeated "by attacking Afghan villages and Afghan homes."

PhotoBlog: Relentless Afghan conflict leaves traumatized generation

The dispute between the two countries centers around Bagram Air Base and a nearby detention facility, which have long been seen as a symbol of American impunity and disrespect by many Afghans. 

"I have written to President Obama that the Afghan people will not allow its government to enter into a security agreement, while the United States continues to violate Afghan sovereignty and Afghan loss," he said.

During the interview, Karzai also said that he didn't think al-Qaida "has a presence in Afghanistan."

He added: "I don’t even know if al-Qaida exists as an organization as it is being spoken about. So all we know is that we have insecurity."

Newlywed beheaded for her refusal to become a prostitute

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States led the invasion to topple the Taliban, which was harboring al-Qaida and its then-leader, Osama bin Laden. While weakened, especially after the death of bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011, al-Qaida is still thought to have strong links with the Taliban and other Afghan insurgents.

Karzai said Afghans were thankful to foreign forces for being "liberated" in 2001, but complained that since then his countrymen had suffered the most in the fight against extremism.

Panetta: US foresees 'enduring presence' to fight al-Qaida in Afghanistan

"In the name of the war on terror the Afghan people have paid the greatest price of any.  That has not been recognized," he said.

While there have been more than 2,000 American military casualties since the invasion of Afghanistan, civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.  In the first six months of 2012 alone, more than 3,000 civilians were killed or injured, according the United Nations.  This number was down 15 percent from a year earlier. Anti-government and coalition insurgents were responsible for 80 percent of the civilian casualties, the U.N. says.

Karzai also addressed the issue of graft during the interview, saying there was "no doubt that there is corruption in Afghanistan." 

As Taliban regroup, victims battle for 'free' Afghanistan

"The bigger corruption is the corruption in contracts," he added. "The contracts are not issued by the Afghan government.  The contracts are issued by the international community, mainly by the United States."

In 2010, the country received $6.4 billion in official development assistance, representing more than 40 percent of its gross domestic product, according to humanitarian news site AlertNet. Two-thirds of the funds aren't channeled through the government because of concerns about corruption and the government's ability to use the money properly, AlertNet added.

Afghanistan is tied with Somalia and North Korea at the bottom of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2012. A 2012 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report estimated that Afghans paid $2.5 billion in bribes over 12 months, which is equivalent to almost a quarter of the country’s GDP.

Slideshow:

Kevin Frayer / AP

In southern Afghanistan, the focus of the U.S. war effort, nearly all the Afghan soldiers are foreigners too. Photographer Kevin Frayer shows these soldiers in a series of portraits.

Launch slideshow

The international community had fostered graft to keep the Afghan state weak, Karzai said.

"I've come to believe (that) ... corruption comes from the United States through contracts and through the corruption in both systems," he said, adding that the "perception of corruption is deliberate to render the Afghan government exploitable, to weaken it," he said. "This is something that I have began to believe in firmly now after the experiences that I've gained in ... working on this issue."

NBC News' F. Brinley Bruton and Kiko Itasaka contributed to this report.

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Parwiz / Reuters

Farmers work at a poppy field in Afghanistan's Jalalabad province on May 4.

News analysis

Updated at 9:50 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan - Many Afghans see dark clouds of uncertainty looming over the calendar as the 2014 deadline approaches for most foreign troops to withdraw, and worry that after that the international community will abandon them.

Over the last decade, billions of aid dollars have flowed into Afghanistan, and thousands of foreign soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians have died during the effort to bring peace and a modicum of prosperity to the country.  Meanwhile, the government of President Hamid Karzai has passed laws meant to improve the lives of his citizens.  Nevertheless, Afghanistan still faces huge problems, such as widespread violence, official corruption, grinding poverty and a booming narcotics trade.

EXCLUSIVE: US, NATO behind 'insecurity' in Afghanistan, Karzai says

“Plagued by factionalism and corruption, Afghanistan is far from ready to assume responsibility for security when U.S. and NATO forces withdraw in 2014,” think tank International Crisis Group said in a recent report.

Security
The Taliban are regaining land and power lost after they were toppled by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. While there have been more than 2,000 American military casualties during this time, civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.  In the first six months of 2012 alone, more than 3,000 civilians were killed or injured, according the United Nations. This number was down 15 percent from a year earlier. Anti-government and coalition insurgents were responsible for 80 percent of the civilian casualties, the U.N. says.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the Afghan Border Patrol are assisted by a member of the Afghan National Army (ANA) (2R) during a training session at the Narizah base in Narizah, Khost Province on August 13, 2012. Some 130,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan are preparing to withdraw in 2014 and are training and working alongside Afghan soldiers as they take increasing responsibility for the anti-insurgency campaign.

More than 300,000 Afghan National Army soldiers and Afghan National Police members have been trained to replace foreign soldiers.  Afghan security forces face big challenges, such as attrition, illiteracy and insurgent infiltration.

Panetta: US foresees 'enduring presence' to fight al-Qaida in Afghanistan

Poverty and corruption
Most Afghans are not just living in fear of an insurgent attack or NATO airstrike.  They fear hunger and worry that they and their families won’t survive another winter.

Afghans are among the poorest people on earth.  According to the World Bank, per capita GDP was around $576 in 2011, up from $158 in 2002. 

More than half of children under the age of five are malnourished, according to the World Food Program.

Jawad Jalali / AFP - Getty Images file

A young garbage collector carries recyclable material from a landfill in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Oct. 17.

Afghanistan remains largely dependent on foreign aid – the World Bank says that 90 percent of the country’s national budget is still financed by governments and other foreign organizations.

Along with the huge inflows of foreign aid and poverty is corruption:  the country is tied with Somalia and North Korea at the bottom of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2012.

A 2012 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report estimated that Afghans paid $2.5 billion in bribes over 12 months, which is equivalent to almost a quarter of the country’s GDP.

Women
In 2001, Afghan women were the poster children for the invasion.  Promises poured in to help half of the society that was brutalized and banished during the Taliban.  Despite the pledges, Afghanistan remains one of the most difficult places in the world to be a woman: it has one of the highest levels of maternal mortality and, according to U.N. estimates, around 90 percent of women suffer from some sort of domestic abuse. 

Ahmad Masood / Reuters

Women clad in burqas walk in Bagram, Afghanistan, on January 3.

Nevertheless, there has been some progress. In 2004, President Karzai signed into law a new constitution granting equality among all its citizens and ensuring women’s rights.  And in 2009 the country passed the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law, intended to protect women from abuse, rape, and forced marriages.  While the laws were all positive steps such legislation is rarely enforced. 

More Afghanistan coverage from NBC News

The ministry of women’s affairs in Kabul says that from April through July of this year at least 3,600 cases of violence against women were recorded.  However, this grim number may be seen as a sign of progress because it means more families and women are learning about their rights and reporting their grievances. 

Drugs
Afghanistan has long-produced about 90 percent of the world's opium, a paste from the poppy plant that is mad into make heroin.  At the end of the Taliban’s rule, the government worked with the U.N. to cut production by around  90 percent.

In the last decade, opium production increased again. It is now the largest source of export earnings and accounts for half of Afghanistan's GDP, according to humanitarian news site AlertNet.

All hope is not lost in Afghanistan, progress has been made in small steps rather than the giant leaps expected when United States-backed forces toppled the Taliban. 

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

An Afghan Pashtun boy, who said he was forced from troubled Baglan province due to threats from the Taliban, looks on after a day after scavenging at a garbage dump in Kabul on November 14, 2012

In 2001, girls were denied an education under the Taliban regime and only 900,000 children were enrolled in school throughout Afghanistan.  Today, at least 7 million children are attending classes and 2.5-million are estimated to be girls, according to Amnesty International. In the cities, you see women in the workforce again, doctors, politicians and even business owners.

Still, many fear that these delicate gains will disappear as the last foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan on Dec. 31, 2014. 

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Sahar Parniyan, 22, is Afghanistan’s most famous actress. She stars in the country’s number one comedy, “The Ministry,” an offshoot of the popular American TV show, “The Office.”

Her character on the show has also been outspoken about women’s rights. But now, after receiving death threats, she is now in hiding.

NBC’s Atia Abawi reports from Kabul.

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Waseem Naikzad / AFP - Getty Images

Afghan security force sit on top of a military vehicle in Laghman province Wednesday. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday he was very concerned about the rise in insider attacks on US and NATO troops, and the impact they are having on cooperation with Afghan allies.

News analysis

KABUL, Afghanistan – A group of U.S. Marines in Helmand province was invited to dinner by a local police commander and his men late last week.  A little after midnight, under the dark Afghan sky, the Marines left the police compound and were shot in the back as they walked away. Three were killed.

Last week, seven Americans lost their lives after Afghans they were working with turned their weapons on them.

The military is now designating these incidents in which Afghan troops turn on coalition counterparts as "insider attacks," (they were once called "green-on-blue" incidents) to account for the non-security personnel also involved in the assaults. 

Insider attacks are now at the highest level they have been since the start of the war.

Three US special ops troops killed, Afghan officials say 

In 2007 and 2008 there were four such attacks and four deaths.

So far this year, there have already been 29 incidents in which Afghans turned their weapons on their coalition partners, killing 37.  That’s compared with a total of 21 incidents, in which 35 were killed, in all of 2011. 

The spike has startled many and brought calls to find the catalyst for the deadly problem.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the Afghan National Army are helped by a US soldier as they participate in a map reading training session at Narizah base in Narizah, Khost Province, on August 12, 2012.

Who or what is to blame? 
One group that would seem like the obvious culprit is the Taliban. They have claimed to infiltrate the Afghan National Security Forces, consisting of both the military and police, to help kill NATO troops from the inside. 

Last year, the group called on more Afghans in uniform to join their cause and turn their weapons on the “foreign invaders” because of their access and proximity. 

NATO does not deny some of the attacks have been from Taliban insurgency infiltration – but they attribute the trend to more than that.

Seven American troops killed in Afghan chopper crash

“There was infiltration; that is correct, we can acknowledge that,” said Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force based in Kabul.  However, he said most of the attacks could be blamed on more basic warfare issues.

“The main reasons for those green on blue incidents are personal grievances, stress situations and what we call battle fatigue,” Katz said.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Hoshang Hashimi / AP

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

He attributes about 10 percent of the insider attacks to Taliban infiltration, and blames the remaining 90 percent on individual motives.

However, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged the Taliban are somewhat to blame for the attack earlier this week.

“The reality is, the Taliban has not been able to regain any territory lost, so they’re resorting to these kinds of attacks to create havoc,” Panetta told reporters in a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, according to Stars and Stripes.

Panetta later said there is “no one source” responsible for the attacks, and that there are several reasons why Afghan forces would turn on coalition troops.

Cultural divide 
A former commander of the Afghan Border Police, Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil, blames the attacks on a disrespect of the Afghan culture by foreign forces.

“The main reason for these attacks is that the foreign troops have on many occasions humiliated the Afghan culture and religion,” Amarkhil said.  “They’ve entered Afghan homes without permission, killed innocent civilians, they’ve bombarded wedding parties, they’ve entered our mosques with dogs, burned the Holy Quran. All of these are the factors that have contributed to the Afghan army or police being infiltrated by people who have been humiliated by the foreign troops.”

The Afghan general admitted it is not just the fault of NATO, adding that the insider attacks are also because of the weakness in the Afghan National Security Forces’ recruitment system.

“We don’t have a proper procedure for recruitment in our army or police. There are people in the Afghan army who have come from Pakistan and have made Afghan identity cards, " said Amarkhil, explaining that loyalties can be divided.

Training on Afghan culture
Amarkhil believes more should be done to show respect for the Afghan culture and religion by the foreign forces. And ISAF says they are doing just that.

“We continue to improve this process further and further in order to teach our guys [about] ‘what is Afghan culture.’  What can be done, what must not be done,” Katz said.  “We are very serious about that.”

In the meantime, ISAF has implemented force protection measures to help prevent more insider attacks.  Katz would not elaborate on what those measures are.

“We permanently assess the environment our soldiers are working in and assess if the current force protection measures are still in accordance to our assessment. And if not, we change them.”

But Katz says that these incidents, although tragic, are isolated.

“We had a very bad week last week,” he says.  But he believes for the most part there is trust between the Afghan and international forces.

“The more we fight together, the more we trust each other.”

NBC’s Fazl Ahad contributed to this report.

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Mark Humphrey / AP

Afghanistan's Nesar Ahmad Bahawi carries his national flag during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics on July 27 in London.

KABUL – It’s not exactly Olympic fever in Afghanistan, but there is excitement in the air about the six athletes – including a female sprinter – who are representing the war-torn nation at the London Games. Cheering on their compatriots has given some in the country’s capital a welcome distraction from the summer heat. 

Students at Kardan University in Kabul are in the middle of exams, but that hasn’t stopped many of them from carving out time in the evening to watch the Games.

“I really enjoyed watching the opening ceremonies.  I felt so proud when I saw our country’s flag in the hands of our Afghans in the stadium.  And they were the first country to come in after Greece!” said Mohammad Naeem Mamozai, who is studying English Literature.

“We are a country who has fought for more than 30 years, but when I see my country’s representation in that kind of event, it touches my heart,” he added.  “We Afghans are not fans of war and we can also represent the better parts of life.”

The Afghan athletes do not have state-of-the-art facilities to train in, making it difficult to compete at the world level.  But nonetheless, their countrymen are overjoyed to see them at the Olympic Games.

“I was watching our player in judo, but he lost in 10 seconds,” Muslim Khurram, a business major, said.  “I was trying to call my friends to watch, but he lost before they could turn on their television sets.”

Khurram added that even if their players lose, Afghans are still proud because the Games have given them a sense of unity.

“When I go on Facebook now, I see posts from people who used to talk about politics and supporting various political groups now talking about our Olympic players and supporting them,” he said.  “And they post ‘Long Live Afghanistan!’  I feel so proud when I see our Afghan flag.  We should come together and be united.  We should be supporting our country!”

Hoping to medal
Despite the judo defeat, Afghans still hope for a medal. Next week their best chance for Olympic accolades lies with 25-year-old Rohullah Nikpai, who will compete in the men’s taekwondo events.   

In 2008, Nikpai brought home Afghanistan’s first ever Olympic medal – the bronze.  He was greeted by an overjoyed nation.

This year one woman is on the Afghan team. Tahmina Kohistani, a 23-year-old sprinter, will participate in the 100-meter track and field events.  She’s not expected to medal but her presence alone is seen as a victory by some of her countrywomen.

“It’s not important to me that she brings home a medal, I’m just happy for Afghanistan and especially happy an Afghan woman is participating in the London Olympics,” said Mehr Angiz, a female security advisor at Kabul International Airport.

“During the Taliban we were not allowed to come out of our homes, but today you see a lot of women working, like me,” she said.  “In the future, I hope a lot more women will join sports, like [soccer], volleyball and maybe even a women’s cricket team.” (Cricket is not an Olympic sport at the moment).

Kohistani competed in her heat Friday for the 100-meter track and field events. She finished in 14.42 seconds, a personal best for Kohistani, but not enough to move her into the finals.

The games are being broadcasted by local television channel SABA-TV who won the rights to distribute the coverage in Afghanistan.  The channel said they were not able to set up public viewings of the games for security reasons, but they have still received positive feedback.

“The feedback from people has been very good,” said Abdul Waheed Hamidi, managing director of SABA-TV.  “People have been calling and telling us that they appreciate our service.  Not just by phone, but we were also getting emails and Facebook messages about our broadcast.”

It is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and focus on spiritual cleansing – not sports. But that hasn’t stopped some from breaking the fast while watching the Games on TV after the sun has set.  

NBC’s Akbar Shinwari contributed to this report. 

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KABUL, Afghanistan – The hopes of a whole nation are riding on the shoulders of Dr. Ashraf Ghani. 

As chairman of Afghanistan’s Transition Coordination Commission, his mission is to ease his country fully back into Afghan hands as the United States and its allies finish their withdrawal by the end of 2014.

Parwiz / Reuters

Afghans shout slogans during a protest against the killing of Afghans in an Afghan-led operation in Laghman province May 1, 2012. NATO says a Taliban leader and another insurgent were killed after they opened fire on security forces taking part in the operation in the eastern province of Laghman.

KABUL, Afghanistan – The first U.S. boots hit Afghan soil in October 2001. The men were on the search for Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and the leader of the al-Qaida terror network. But they didn't find him.

It took nearly 10 years until a new administration in Washington watched through a live video feed as he was captured and killed by U.S. commandos across the Afghan border in Pakistan, just after 1 a.m. local time, on May 2, 2011.

Bin Laden’s death accomplished one of the major goals of the so-called “War on Terror.” But did it come too late in the game?  

A year after bin Laden’s death, the verdict is still out among Afghans on the impact of his death.

'Does not affect us'
Ibrahim, a property dealer in Kabul who didn't give his last name, praised bin Laden and said that countries such as the United States have destroyed his country and brought unwanted distractions. 

“[Bin Laden] was a good fighter,” he said.  “We will follow his followers wherever they need us. I will join them for jihad if they need us.”

But Mohammad Daoud, a mechanic working just a few miles away in the bustling Shar-e-Now section of Kabul, said that bin Laden’s death may have affected the leadership of al-Qaida, but it hasn’t had any effect on the lives of the average Afghan. 

“We are normal citizens and it does not affect us,” Daoud said. “There will be positive and negative effects on his party due to his death, but not on us.”

Professor Daoud Murdaian, who teaches political science at the American University in Kabul, said bin Laden’s death was symbolically significant, but not substantial to the war.  

“The problems still exist in Afghanistan and the region. Killing bin Laden hasn’t ended the problems here, he is finished physically, but he is still here spiritually,” Murdaian said.

He believes the United States and international community did not do enough to stabilize Afghanistan and the region from the start, which is why bin Laden’s death hasn’t had much of an impact. “Al-Qaida and the Taliban were not weakened by his death,” Murdaian added.

Psychological victory for U.S. squandered?
After years of grueling battles in a country torn apart by decades of warfare, bin Laden’s death was a huge psychological victory for American troops at the time.

But one year after his death, the war in Afghanistan is still raging. The Taliban continue to fight as anti-American sentiment in both Afghanistan and Pakistan are at an all-time high.

According to a 2009 assessment by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, a key to turning the tide of the war would be for the winning side to believe they are winning. According to McChrystal, the Taliban believed they were winning the war for several years, which gave them tremendous confidence.

Bin Laden’s death changed that equation, leading many Americans to believe again that they could win what has become the United States’ longest war.

Since that great U.S. victory we have seen a series of actions on the part of American troops that have only served to further diminish Afghan trust and earn America more enemies. 

Among these actions, the release of a video of U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, soldiers accidentally burning copies of the Koran, Islam’s holiest book, and the massacre of 17 Afghan civilians allegedly at the hands of U.S. Army Staff Sgt.Robert Bales while they were sleeping in their homes have garnered the most intense criticism. These rare events have overshadowed many positive achievements.

Transition key
Following the death of bin Laden last year, military officials on the ground in Afghanistan said his demise would not affect the situation on the ground, but rather would only change policy decisions in Washington. 

As U.S. and NATO troops continue their withdrawal, control of the country will transition into Afghan hands by 2013.

If the transition isn’t a smooth one, many analysts believe Afghanistan will continue to be a problem that will haunt the U.S. and its NATO partners for many decades to come. 

Dr. Wadeer Safi, a Kabul University political science professor, believes Afghanistan’s strategic position is very dangerous not just for itself, but also for Western interests.

“When the U.S. and NATO leave Afghanistan, the country will again fall into the hands of its neighboring countries, like Pakistan and Iran, and it will be a playground for them,” Safi said.  “That will make Afghanistan and the region dangerous to the West – if they leave Afghanistan like they left it in the past [after the Soviet withdrawal].”

NBC News Akbar Shinwari contributed to this report.
 

Outrage is continuing to spread over a U.S. soldier’s rogue shooting of 16 Afghan civilians in the middle of the night. Local officials say the shooting spree killed nine children, three women and four men.

While the news slowly trickles through Afghanistan, U.S. officials are rushing to contain the damage from the tragic attack, promising to punish whoever is behind the incident.

But there are fears that the attacks could spark even more violence from an Afghan public already angered by the U.S. and NATO presence in their country.

NBC’s Atia Abawi is in Kabul covering the story. Earlier today she answered reader questions about the attack and the Afghan reaction to it.

Click below to replay the chat.

Slideshow: Protests erupt over Quran burning

Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images

Angry afghans attacked U.S. bases after reports of Quran desecration.

Launch slideshow

There have been violent protests across Afghanistan since it emerged on Tuesday that copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, used by detainees held at the Bagram military base had been burned. 

The incident has become a public relations disaster for foreign forces in Afghanistan, more than 10 years after the U.S. invasion of the country began.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama sent a letter to Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai apologizing for the burning of copies of the Quran at a NATO military base, but it is uncertain whether or not that will quell the anger.

NBC News Correspondent in Kabul, Atia Abawi, answered reader questions about the controversy earlier today.

Click on the link below to replay the chat.

Ahmad Masood / Reuters

Afghan women clad in burqas walk past a tree in Bagram, north of Kabul on Jan. 3, 2012.

 KABUL, Afghanistan – With increased pressure for a U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and potential peace talks with the Taliban, many Afghan women fear their newfound rights could be jeopardized.

Since 2001, Afghan women have made many gains after years of being ostracized and banished from society under the Taliban. Now women are back in the workforce, back in schools and have a sizable representation in the government – things that were all forbidden during the Taliban’s five-year rule.

But the gains are fragile and only represent a small percentage of the population. 
 
According to one United Nations estimate, nearly 90 percent of Afghan women suffer from some sort of domestic abuse – some analysts believe that number may be even higher –  making Afghanistan one of the most dangerous places to be a woman.   

And although the Afghan constitution provides women equal rights, various government agencies, institutions and many individuals do not abide by those rules.

The latest shocking example of that is the news that a young woman in northern Afghanistan was murdered by her husband and mother-in-law for giving birth to a third daughter and not a son.

Stories like that one, as well as fears about what negotiations with the Taliban could mean for women’s rights, have urged Afghan female parliamentarian, Shinkai Karokhail, and dozens of Afghan women activists from all walks of life, to share their concerns with President Hamid Karzai to try to make him an active player in their plight.

Pushing for action
“Day by day we are a witness of more violence against women around the country,” Karokhail said. “Not only women should raise their voice, what about the president [him]self?” 

This past month Karzai invited the women activists to his palace along with religious leaders from the country.  Karzai requested the religious leadership’s attendance because he knows they are the most influential element in this conservative Islamic society.  The group of women shared stories of the hardships faced by Afghan females, presenting him with a photo album of women and girls maimed, exploited or killed because of cultural and religious ignorance.

According to those who attended the meeting, the pictures and stories “visibly moved” the president. And it drove him to suggest that religious leaders work with women to encourage awareness among Afghans about the importance of women’s rights.
 
“[They] have to give awareness of the real Islam,” Karokhail said of Afghanistan’s religious elite. “Because in Islam we have lots of rights for women, but what Afghans are doing [is the] opposite of that.”
 
Karzai announced this past weekend that he will hold a conference in February focused on Eliminating Violence against Women, an announcement welcomed by the international community. 

Ahmad Masood / Reuters

Women and children wait for transportation as it snows in Kabul on Jan. 22.

Karokhail hopes by working with religious elders they can begin an awareness campaign by using the media, mosques and even the legislature to educate Afghans that the Islamic religion forbids such treatment of women.

Uphill battle to end violence against women
But it’s not just the Taliban they have to convince. Their mission is to help change a cultural mindset – a mentality that has been affected by three-decades of constant war.

On the streets of Kabul, the country’s capital, 35-year-old Shekaib, an Afghan man, admitted to NBC News that women have been treated badly by the various regimes that took control.

“Their rights have been stepped on,” Shekaib said. “The international community helped many Afghan women raise their voices against those who stepped on their rights.”
 
But he says that if the international community abandons the cause for Afghan women when the foreigners leave, those women will suffer from the same hands they spoke up against.

“I am sure if they leave the situation will get bad and unsafe for [women],” he said. 
 
Although foreign governments and their militaries now seldom bring up the plight of Afghan women as they try to wind down their efforts in Afghanistan.  Afghan women and their supporters know that if they don’t keep speaking up and fighting for their own rights their future may be as bleak as their past.
 
“Women have the most to lose,” said Manezha Naderi the executive director for “Women for Afghan Women” which provides shelter for abused women throughout the country.  “History has shown that they lose the most – their education, their freedom and the same thing can happen again.”
 
Naderi, an Afghan-American, has been working in Afghanistan since 2003 and is worried by the lack of interest shown lately by the international community.
 
“Afghan women are human beings and Afghan women were part of the reason we came here,” she says.  “We have a responsibility to make it right for the women and children.”
 
Naderi has made Afghanistan her home now and is raising three daughters here.  She says she can’t give up on this cause because she is now fighting for them as well. 
 
“I’m not going to give up now, or tomorrow, or ever in my life,” she said.  “Women’s rights can’t be shoved under the rug.”
 
She just hopes the world will listen.