Peace in Afghanistan remains elusive

For centuries, Afghanistan has been a cauldron of chaos, conflict and anarchy. But the chaos has not been created or opted by Afghans. It has been engineered, exported to, and planted in the country. The foreign invasions in past decades, insurgency and civil war have totally destroyed Afghanistan, which has been haunted by great game between big powers jostling to achieve strategic edge over their rivals and to grab mineral resources . This tussle between the world powers never allowed the country, except for brief periods, to become a stable and well organized state. It has not only stunted the development of the country but also spawned a permanent menace like Taliban.
The present crisis in Afghanistan can be attributed to Soviet invasion and the subsequent developments. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up a Russia-friendly communist government. With the end of the Soviet occupation in 1989 and lack of support and aid for forces fighting the occupation, Afghanistan plunged into bitter civil conflict. It was from this quagmire that the Taliban, an extremist group from the Pashtuns in southern Afghanistan, rose to prominence. The US and NATO launched its military operations against Taliban as the group emerged as main threat after the 9/11 attacks. This drew the United States into its own longest and costly war in Afghanistan, just as the Soviets had done a decade before.
Although the longest war in American history is technically over with the halt of combat mission, the goal of stabilizing the country is far from being achieved. As the Afghan military was left to look after the bruised and bleeding country, the IS extremists established itself and carries out string of deadly attacks targeting civilians, police and armed forces. More than 140 killed after gunmen disguised as the members of army stormed a military compound in the Balkh province in Afghanistan on Friday. The largest threat is the resurgent Taliban, which controls nine percent of Afghanistan’s districts, with another 26 percent at the risk of falling if the government fails to act fast. The number of internally displaced people, which increased almost 80 percent in 2015, is continuously rising. More than 200,000 have fled the turmoil to Europe for better future.
The chaos forced former President Barack Obama to pull back from his plan to remove forces from Afghanistan. Taliban gains and the inability of Afghan forces to fight on their own changed the US strategy.
Afghanistan war is one of the trickiest foreign policy challenges for Trump. The IS extremists have added another layer to the already complex war. The Taliban view IS as foreign militants trying to gain influence across Central Asia. Although US dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb on IS positions in Afghanistan killing at least 34 extremists, the Trump administration needs to devise a wider strategy to end this protracted war. Trump is contemplating sending US enforcements in a bid to stabilize Afghanistan. But anything less than a full- scale surge will fail to bring desired effect on the ground. The political solution is thought be the only viable way to end Afghans’ suffering. But bringing the warring parties on the negotiation table will be a Herculean task. So, the end of the war will remain elusive.