Situating Workable Response Continues....

Every conflict has its unique structure arising out of the nature of the

parties, the issues at stake, the circumstances under which the conflict

occurs, and the particular dynamic according to which it develops. In

analyzing any specific conflict, knowledge of the particular features of

that conflict is just as important as, if not more important than,

generalized knowledge of the conflict process. If we analyse the conflict in

Afghanistan, we find that the circumstances in which the conflict occurs

and the dynamic of its development and sustenance, revolves a lot around

the external factors involved in the process.

Internal war within a country depends on indigenous factors as well

as the impact of forces and influences from outside the area of conflict.

The degree to which foreign powers could contribute to the growth and

expansion of revolutionary insurgent and terrorist movements through

the provision of various kinds of military, political and economic

assistance is usually remarkable.

This calls for greater

attention on the subject as many actors in Afghanistan’s neighbourhood

have the ability to influence positively and negatively the course of

developments in the country. The third chapter of the book

discusses the motivation and involvement of the external actors in Afghan

affairs, generally drawing a distracting picture of the situation where it

becomes evident that regional powers like Iran, Pakistan and some of the

Central Asian states share considerable responsibility for the destruction

of the Afghan state, the state structure and the historical consensus that it

once had. The root cause of interference in Afghanistan by the regional

powers was political polarization among the Afghan groups and the civil

war, which pushed them to seek external support to counterbalance their

internal adversaries. It is also evident that the Western countries have also

not fulfilled their part of the responsibility of rebuilding the country in

the wake of the Soviet withdrawal and the end of the Cold War.

To be continued...