Mr. Farooqi believes open and successful presidential elections next April and a stronger Afghan government will stop gains by militants.

Until the end of last month, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was a member of the Afghan team negotiating with American officials. He told VOA that the security talks are considering the needs of every Afghan constituent group. He says the agreement is shaping into a very balanced, if not necessarily a long-term one.

“It is a fully worked out, detailed set of understandings between two governments. Second, the duration is 10 years. Three, each government has a process for changing the agreement. So it’s not that this government is binding the future government categorically.”

But some observers and citizens of Kabul are worried. They say the Taliban is moving quickly into more villages across the country. And one former Afghan military official said the country’s army is losing more and more soldiers to desertion.

You are listening to As It Is, from VOA Learning English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

Flood-Proofing Rice

Crop scientists from around the world met in the Philippines last week at the International Rice Research Institute. They exchanged ideas on how to keep flooded rice and other crops alive for long periods. June Simms has more in this report from Simone Orendain in Los Baños.

Scientists have already found a way for several kinds of rice to live after being completely covered in water for more than 10 days. About five years ago, farmers in the Philippines, Indonesia and several South Asian countries started growing rice that had been crossbred with a gene called “SUB1.” The gene stops the plant from growing while it is under water, to protect itself.