Deprived of American support, the Afghan forces may again shrink back from rural areas like Bar Adin Kheyl towards the road and towns.

ECONOMIST: Afghanistan

Deceptively simple but perfect for this time of year is Adin Steinsaltz's Simple Words , a series of short essays about what it means to be human in a material world.

NPR: The Least Material of Material Gifts

Bar Adin Kheyl, a cluster of 50 or so houses and two mosques, sits in an area of southern Ghazni where the Taliban have had free rein for years and have enforced a crude rural administration.

ECONOMIST: Afghanistan