Afghan Commentary Post

  Who Does Afghanistan Belong To? It’s an Unsolved Struggle By Wahab Raofi   Forty-five years ago this Christmas Eve, Soviet tanks crossed into Afghanistan, launching a decade-long occupation and a cataclysm that would shape the country for generations. Since then, Afghanistan has been portrayed as a land condemned to perpetual bloodshed — a so-called “graveyard of empires,” trapped in endless conflict.   This belief in the country’s intractability has hardened not only a war-weary population, but also the minds of global leaders.   After two decades of Western military and political engagement, the verdict echoed that of the Soviet Union when it spent time and treasure on a war deemed unsolvable. American presidents have been unusually candid in expressing this view, with one dismissing Afghanistan one of “ Hellholes ” Yet this fatalism — born of repeated intervention and failure — rests on a profound misdiagnosis.   Afghanistan’s confli...

To Solve Afghan–Pakistan Conflict, Kabul’s Regime Must Change The conflict between the Taliban and Pakistan will keep escalating if the Taliban remains in power. Only a democratically elected government in Kabul can lead to peace.   By Wahab Raofi The conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan is not new. The two neighbors have long viewed each other through a distorted lens, projecting historical fears and grievances that obscure reality. This has led to a damaging state of mutual suspicion, deepened by decades of each harboring the other's opponents. Pakistan's security establishment, seeking “strategic depth” against India, provided crucial sanctuary and support to the Afghan Taliban for years. This policy fostered deep resentment among many Afghans who blame Pakistan for the destruction of their state and society and view the Taliban's rise as a direct result of foreign interference. Now the tables have turned, with Afghanistan harboring Pakistan's milita...

  Innocent Afghans in the U.S. Shouldn’t Pay the Price for One Shooter By Wahab Raofi A double shock unfolded this week: one in Washington, D.C., when a man named Amanullah Lakanwal shot two National Guard service members — killing one and injuring the other — and another in the hearts and minds of thousands of Afghan evacuees across the United States who now fear collective punishment for crimes they did not commit. The misfortune has triggered a predictable but overly simplistic political reaction. President Donald Trump called for mass reinvestigations of Afghan refugees, using the attack to question their loyalty. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he declared. The Trump campaign also announced a pause on processing immigration applications from Afghanistan, and Mr. TM   it would be a grave mistake to let one individual’s crime become an excuse for punishing an entire community. This heinous act must not be used to justify prejudice against Afg...

  From Mosque to Throne: Why Mullahs Keep Returning to Power in Afghanistan When political order collapses, religion remains the only organized force capable of restoring law and order.   The term “Taliban” is loaded, evoking images of religious zealots and Pashtun dominance. It is true that most Taliban leaders are Pashtuns from the south and east, Sunni Muslims from rural areas, who were further indoctrinated in Pakistani religious schools, or madrasas. Yet this contemporary image obscures a deeper historical reality: in Afghanistan, when political order collapses, religion has often been the only organized force capable of restoring law and stability. The Taliban, the seeker,  are not merely a militant group—they embody a recurring pattern in Afghan society. Historically, religious leaders have acted as a reserve force, stepping in to fill political vacuums during times of crisis and retreating to the mosque once stability returned. The Taliban’s rise—from mosque ...

    یک روایت عام درافغان ها درموردجنگ های های داخلی ومشکلات سیاسی افغانستان مووج گردیده این اسمت که این خارجی هاوشبک های جاسوسی واستخبارت منطقه است که ما افغان ها را به باهم به جنگ انداخته. درغیران ما مردم صلح جو وبا اتفاق هستیم و هیچ وقت درتاریخ کشورخوبا هم نه جنکنیده بلکه همواره درصلح و فضای برادری و برابری زندگی کرده ایم. ولی من درین مورد نظرمتفاوت دارم: مشکل افغانستان توسط خارجه ها خلق نه شده بلکه معلول عوامل داخلی است که ریشه های ان دربطن جامه افغانی است که باعث سقوط مکر ر نظام ها میشود و هم باعث مداخله های خارجی ها میشود و تا زمانیکه به این "عوامل" راه جل جستجو نه شود مشکل اففانستان حل شدنی نیست. من به‌تازگی ازلیسه عالی حبیبه خارج شده ودر تدارک به امتحان  کانکور بودم که در صبحگاه ۱۷ جولای ۱۹۷۳ ، ساکنان کابل با صدای گلوله‌باران از خواب بیدار شدند ــ رویدادی غیرعادی در کشوری که نزدیک به چهار دهه تحت فرمانروایی شاه ظاهرشاه از آرامش نسبی برخوردار بود. ظاهرشاه، به‌عنوان پادشاه مشروطه‌خواه، ثبات سیاسی را حفظ کرده و روند تدریجی نوسازی را پیش می‌برد؛ او مشارکت محدو...

Peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan requires sacrifices that neither side shows any sign of making. By Wahab Raofi The October 11 exchange of airstrikes and border fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces which resulted in the death of at least 12 Afghan people and more than 100 wounded is more than a diplomatic spat; it is a symptom of a fatal flaw in regional strategy. Pakistan bombs Afghan territory to target the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant Islamist group that seeks to overthrow the Pakistani government and impose strict Sharia law. Afghanistan retaliates against Pakistani posts. This cycle deepens distrust between the two countries, while the threat of militancy festers on both sides. History offers a stark lesson: insurgents find sanctuary across a porous border and cannot be defeated by missiles alone. The futility of force alone was definitively demonstrated in 2017 when the United States dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal on a Taliban...

 Pakistan has carried out strikes on Afghan territory to target the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which the Pakistani government considers a terrorist organization seeking to establish an Islamic state. The TTP is a militant Islamist group that aims to overthrow the Pakistani government and impose strict Sharia law. In response, Afghanistan retaliates by striking Pakistani border posts, further deepening mistrust between the two neighboring countries while the shared threat of militancy continues to fester.