There are many Afghan people some among the Afghan intelligentsia as intellectuals and high-ranking government officials, who openly criticize the U.S.' presence and involvement in Afghanistan and insist that Afghanistan can stand back on its feet and manage its affairs without American involvement. They tend to see the American and international coalition's presence in Afghanistan as negative and compare it with the earlier soviet and British occupations. All this is said while the reality of Afghanistan, in actuality, does not agree with their view.

The experience of Afghanistan over the past ten years has been unique in many ways in the history of our country. Afghanistan's new start in the path of democracy, although fraught with much shortcomings and persisting problems, indeed has the potential to lift Afghanistan off its ground of historical failures and shortcomings.

While Afghanistan, as a nation-state in its modern sense, came into being in the early 18th century, the diverse rulers and dynasties that reigned over this land never succeeded in giving it a coherent national identity by pursuing a long-term project of nation-building.

The internal hindrances in the way of nation-building notwithstanding, outside forces as well played a major role in shaping the historical developments inside and in the neighborhood of our country Afghanistan. The period during the 18th and 19th centuries, when the modern nation-state of Afghanistan had the opportunity to consolidate its position as a viable state, coincided with the long-standing rivalries between the two empires, the Russian Empire to the north and the British India Empire (British Raj) to the south and east.

The Mercantilist school of thought that dominated international relations in those eras, made various empires and fiefdoms view one another in a zero-sum relationship in which the gain for one was essentially seen as the loss for another. This led to fierce competition and rivalries among the major political entities of the time and it eventually culminated into World War I in early 20th century.

The Afghanistan nation-state was caught in such an international environment that was characterized by widespread rivalries, competition and regional wars. The normal course of development and consolidation of the power of the state was severely hampered by interferences and outright aggressions by the two empires in the immediate vicinity of Afghanistan.

While ostensibly they proclaimed themselves committed to recognizing Afghanistan as a neutral "buffer" state, their covert and overt acts of aggressions continued much to the detriment of the fledgling Afghan state. The extent of success of Afghanistan in modernizing its society and economy during this period lies in stark contrast to that of the neighboring countries such as Iran and Turkey where they managed to achieve significant progress.

The historical interventions by the Imperialist powers, the most notable of which are the Anglo-Afghan wars and the Soviet invasion throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, were essentially parasitic and imperialistic in nature. They rested on bankrupt ideologies and premises of colonialism and imperial conquests for territorial expansion and primarily sought to create parasitic center-periphery relationships between their canters of power and Afghanistan as a subject colony.

The American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, however, is a totally different paradigm far from the pattern of aforementioned imperialist aggressions by the British and Russian Empires. The nature of the American invasion of Afghanistan and the reasons for presence of more than 140,000 troops from more than 47 countries on our Afghan soil are vastly different from the nature of the earlier Russian and British aggressions.

The parameters of this difference are multi-faceted. From the political upheavals of the 1970s up until the days of the Taliban, Afghanistan was effectively a failed state; a state that was not unable to govern its territory and more importantly unable to provide all-round development to its people.

The Taliban, although having achieved some measure of success in restoring the law and order situation, could at best be a temporary stabilizing force and its catastrophic system of governance was in actuality plunging the country into much worse crises.

The presence of international terrorist groups on the Afghan soil under the Taliban regime was enough to lead to gradual disintegration of the country. Therefore, the apologists for the Taliban regime and those who believe a regime like that of Taliban was and still can be the elusive panacea to Afghanistan's problems and those who view American presence as negative are simply wrong and misguided.

In the absence of an external stabilizing force, Afghanistan will slide back into renewed conflict and civil war. The U.S.-led international coalition present in Afghanistan, consisting of more than 47 countries and involving such far-off countries as Tonga, Mongolia and Iceland, is this much-needed stabilization force.

A plural and tolerant system of political representation in the form of a democratic political set-up - Although with the accompanying shortcomings and problems - and a benevolent, inclusive yet de-centralized system of governance which can accommodate all the diversities of Afghan people is the pressing need of the hour.

This becomes more important when we realize that Afghanistan's experience with all sorts of political systems from monarchy to Lenin-style Communism ended in catastrophic failures. The assistance extended to Afghanistan by the U.S. and the international coalition present in Afghanistan helps the country find internal and external stability and set foot on the path of practicing democracy as the only viable alternative for Afghanistan. Therefore, contrary to what many of our Afghans even some within high ranks of the government believe, American invasion of Afghanistan is different from the Soviet and British occupations.

American foreign policy, particularly after the end of the Cold War, has been based on the notion that that helping to promote liberal democracy around the world directly reinforces American security and spreads American influence and power around the world.

According to the architects of American foreign policy in the post-cold war era and especially after the attacks of September 11, 2001, this is true especially in those hot spots of the world such as Afghanistan where instability can result in threats to American security.

This forms the backbone of the so-called fifth-generation of American foreign policy and Afghanistan sits at the center of it. Therefore, quite contrary to the beliefs of many, who view the U.S.' role in Afghanistan as imperialistic and negative, U.S.' long-term support and role in Afghanistan is very much in the interest of Afghanistan and our nation.