As the suffering continues, Afghan people have begun to raise questions about the effectiveness of the current leadership and power structure. State-building seems to have turned into a myth. While the immediate threat is the growing insurgency, which has become more violent and must be dealt with immediately and effectively with iron hand, it is also important to look at the misrule and centralization of power over the last one decade, which has just compounded the problem facing the country and international community.

It is, therefore, important to note that many Afghans now stand up for decentralized model of governance. The Afghan government has been trying to give legal status to informal local and traditional mechanisms to buy their loyalties. Instead, observers are of the view that only devolution of power can be the long-term solution to the ills facing the country. Once, Pericles said in his Funeral Oration that "the essential virtue of a citizen was his attachment to and active involvement in democratic polity to the degree that he was prepared to die in its defense." Such an attachment is yet to be developed.

If the insurgency is currently a source of the ongoing violence, it will be the 'relative deprivation' and 'centralized power' that will serve as source of political instability in the long run. It has already created a context for lack of accountability on the part of the government. In the wake of 9/11, there were unique and golden opportunities rendered available for Afghanistan and its people. There have been achievements and some big strides forward over the last ten years. But due to ineffectiveness of the system, the suffering still continues to plague Afghan society. This happens while the country is hosting more than 40 nations and about 150 thousand foreign troops operating to stabilize the country. The focus has, mainly, been on external factors and foreign interferences, which are, of course, the big problem for the country. But the internal factors must not be ignored or put aside when trying to figure out a permanent solution to problems and settle the issues permanently.