The image of the "foreigner" or "stranger" is central to the flyers dropped in Afghanistan.  However the U.S. message about how foreigners should be treated is often contradictory, perhaps in order to exploit both "native" hospitality and xenophobia.  Early leaflets announce that "the partnership of nations is here to help" and show a friendly foreigner with a light-skinned hand grasping the darker hand assumed to be like that of the presumed audience.  Later leaflets encourage the Afghan people to drive Taliban-supported foreigners from their lands and assert nation-building practices without external intervention.