redblueamerica.com

I've mentioned before that I think the United States should and could be doing a better job of competing in the realm of ideas abroad. This is a pretty good start:

When Fatima Kazimi dreamed of opening a clothing shop in central Afghanistan, she found there were few entrepreneurs to emulate and even fewer female business owners. So she went halfway around the world, to a 2 1/2 -week management program in Arizona, for the business know-how she needed to set out on her own.

"It's a society that doesn't give opportunities for women to participate in a public life," Kazimi said of Afghanistan. "The program gave me courage."

Today, Kazimi, 34, is the only female storeowner at the Bamiyan bazaar, her hometown market. She even became her husband's boss.

The program is now primed to receive a big boost from Goldman Sachs after the investment banking giant announced Wednesday that it would spend $100 million over the next five years to provide business education to 10,000 women in developing countries.

Yes, yes, yes.

Don't get me wrong. Teaching Kazimi to run her own business doesn't change the need for us to challenge the Taliban today. But it might make a big difference tomorrow and further in the future. And it will create a more enduring victory against terrorism than military might alone can create.