Afghanistan's Tragedy: a problem for the West

When US-led Coalition forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in the wake of 9/11 most Western nations at least thought the invasion just. The declared intention was to hunt down Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, the generally accepted perpetrators, and punish the Taliban government which gave them sanctuary. Even then, after more than 20 years of war, Afghanistan was close to a failed state. Seven years on the Taliban are back, guerrilla warfare hinders or halts economic progress, the Afghan people have no trust in their corrupt and largely powerless government, and for the US the situation looks ominously like another Vietnam. Is there any end in sight?

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