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“A promise is a cloud,” runs the old Arab saying, “fulfilment is rain.” The clouds of promise that surrounded the US president Barack Obama's far-reaching overture to the Muslim world in Cairo last June have so far conspicuously failed to fall as rain.Indeed, in a week which marks once year since he was elected to office amid widespread triumph and excitement, Obama's Cairene promises have never seemed so unobtainable.

In Afghanistan, a run-off for the disputed national election was due to be held today, but was cancelled after the main challenger withdrew over concerns about fraud, leaving the incumbent president as the sole contender.Far from creating a functional democracy, it increasingly looks as if the past eight years in Afghanistan have achieved...