How to have a responsible dedicated generation? ...

Dear Rob,
I am sorry. I think I have completely forgotten to reply this post of yours. It seems that we both shifted to other groups and forgot our own!! However:
1) You are about the Pashtun fear of losing power. This is one of the characteristic of all totalitarian powers, especially those with ethnocentric bases. The Pashtun rulers have not only done nothing for the other ethnic communities, they have also been catastrophic for their own Pashtun groupings too. Two and a half centuries of militaristic war, looting, revenge, and monopoly over the political power has put a negative impact on their vision and patterns of behaviors.
2) The Western world has not much effort to understand the complexity of the Afghan issue. Perhaps it has not been so important for them. However, since their full engagement after the fall of the Taliban, they would need more attention on the realities of the ground.
3) King Zahir ruled the country for more than 40 years. His ruling was at a time when there were big influential rulers around: In Iran, Jordon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Malysia, etc. While his counterparts were leading their respective countries towards a big civilized change, he was busy with hunting birds in the mountains, watching the fighting of the dogs, cocks, and enjoying his king-size life. He did not play a positive role in the time of resistance against the Soviets. He did only one good thing: he himself did not kill any of his opponents. Before him, his uncles were the real people behind the realm of power and they did horrifying things to the people. From the time that he got his control, the chain of killing stopped for a while. This is why most people compare his ruling with the successors and prefer that.
4) You are right that some of the foreigners have picked allies instead of solutions. But I think most of the blame goes to Afghans themselves. There is a lack of sane and positive role from the Afghan side. They are showing to be terribly irresponsible.
5) My concern is more on having a generation of responsible dedicated people. That can fill the vacuums. I have a fear that tomorrow when you decrease your attention in Afghanistan and return back home, the country would fall back at the tragically statues that held in the past. I think I had said this point before too: when you see the huge building with millions of dollars cost, but in front of that the road is drastically bumpy and there is no inclination to asphalt that, you would discover the sense of irresponsibility and tastelessness of the people. This needs to be changed. But how? … Let’s wait!
Perhaps we can debate on the solutions in our coming debates.
Aziz