This will be fast, because I know Elissa wants to come in on this, and she's the one who lived there, not me.
It is important to understand that we're not driven actually by the will to impose values. Here you could have a whole conference about what that means and what western values are compared to others. It is a very complicated debate. It's even more complex because of the nature of Afghan society, which is family-based, tribal-based, and also you're adding another layer that probably, in many ways, has some similarities to what we have, to what we know as parliamentary democracy and all its infinite variations.
It is clear in my mind, and I think it is the same for my colleagues, that we are not there trying to push values. We're there to try to help the Afghans build the society they want for themselves. They have a constitution, and if you haven't read that, it's worth spending 15 minutes to do so. It's a very short document. It addresses in many ways the kind of society in which they want to live. It's not being challenged. I think Afghans, by and large, are supporting that constitution, but they also are deeply attached to some aspects of their traditional lives: clans, families, tribes. That is very important. We try to actually keep that in mind when we intervene in the field, in terms of trying to accommodate people and helping them to strengthen their decision structure.
Sometimes these things collide, not with us but within Afghanistan itself. It's not easy, but given the complexity, they're doing a fairly good job. It's tough for us as well, because whenever you make a decision, you have to look at this puzzle from different angles; there are different angles, and you have to find the common point where all these things are converging.
I don't think they're rejecting us. I don't think they want us to tell them how to live their lives, but they certainly want us to help them build a space where they can actually have a life that is in conformity with their own values.
Do you want to...?