The Challenge of Post-Taliban Governance

Abstract

A quarter of a century of wars ending in military triumphs - by the Mujahideen against the Red Army and the Communist regimes; by the Taliban and al-Qaeda against the Mujahideen-Northern Alliance forces; and most recently by the US-led international coalition against the Taliban and al-Qaeda - have proven that achieving victory in the battlefield is easier than translating that victory into desired political objectives. The persistence of political failures following military victories in Afghanistan calls for a reasoned explanation of this major gap between means and ends, and a way out of the painful cycle of violence in the country.