Matters are complicated further by the fact that, according to Afghan political commentators, 50 percent of the population is under the influence of the Taliban.
Over the past few years, the country’s leaders and international coalition forces may have succeeded in achieving certain changes, but no one could describe the present situation as stable.
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Over the past few years, the country’s leaders and international coalition forces may have succeeded in achieving certain changes, but no one could describe the present situation as stable.
When we think of Afghanistan, the picture that comes to mind is the one presented in the media – a grim and dusty ravine hemmed in by treeless mountains; a highway along which we see locals wearing turbans ambling mournfully and groups of foreign soldiers with guns. A stand-off prevails; we expect disorder at any moment and then explosions, gunfire and ambushes.
This is present-day Afghanistan, where persistent civil war has been smouldering for more than thirty years and entirely innocent Afghans are dying. What exactly is going on in this Central Asian flashpoint? How did the current situation arise? And what does Afghanistan’s future look like?
The improvement of the internal political situation in Afghanistan depends on a number of different factors. The most important of these remains the degree of success in the war against the Taliban, in other words, the war Afghanistan’s central government is waging, alongside the international coalition, against the fighters of the Taliban movement. This war is the decisive factor for the present government of Afghanistan and for Afghan society in general, including the many tribal and ethnic groupings operating within the armed contingents loyal to regional warlords.
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