Afghanistan, Foreign Forces and the Challenge of Nation-State Building

Putting the history of Afghanistan in the past two centuries at perspective, one may realize that the nation-state building process has always been challenged by the extensive social, cultural, political and economic obstacles. Nation-state building is indeed an effort to shape social beliefsystems, traditions and values in a territory for the purpose of defining common identity and national preferences and interests, needed for further progress and development. The fact of the matter is that special geographical particulars of Afghanistan along with presence of foreign powers in the north and the south of country and tribe's resistance against the domination of foreign forces are among the variables which prevent the establishment of a powerful central government. In other words, rigid structures of tribal and religious values in a pluralistic society of Afghanistan made it nearly impossible to concentrate the power in a ruling person in capital Kabul. This is also augmented by the imposition of Western-style democracy, especially that which is promoted by the US without paying sufficient attention to the traditional characteristics of social life in Afghanistan. Hence, rising political and military tensions would be a destined outcome in the coming years.