It is difficult to deviate from the fact that the situation is getting very much challenging in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is facing myriads of problems; the most dominant being the security situation and our unpreparedness to face the problems. There are different perceptions regarding the reasons of the challenging security situation. Some see in it the proxy war taking place among some of the major powers so as to dominate the natural resources and take advantage of the geographical location of country, while others see it as terrorism being strengthened by religious extremist groups, backed by their ideological considerations and some other countries. And then there are some other perceptions as well.

This is not weird and very dangerous to find different perceptions. These perceptions are endeavors to understand the situation and try to find out proper solutions to them. However, it is not always the case. Some of these perceptions are just propaganda and they are not based on logical and even reasonable arguments. Unfortunately, most of our people are highly influenced by such propaganda and tend to take actions based on the same, which result in unwanted and disadvantageous repercussions. Even more unfortunate is the fact that our educated people fall prey to such propaganda. Though they have to different educational institutions and many of them are on different position in important offices yet they are not able to use their education and knowledge in their daily lives and become the victim of general perceptions and practices.

At this crucial juncture, Afghan people need to have a reasonable opinion and investigative approach. They should see every information and analysis with the filter of scientific outlook and research. The different perceptions and approaches that they hear and experience every day, must be scrutinized and nothing should be accepted blindly as there is no guarantee that whatever is told to them is correct. Our community members, both individually and collectively, must never accept the decisions and the views that are emphasized on them and must make sure that they pass the test of analysis. It is only after scientific analysis of the facts and figures that an individual or institution is able to form an ideology and construct a strategy to implement the same; and if followed with dedication, determination and proper management the same strategy can lead to desired objectives. Our institutions, in particular, must also act on the same principle and each of them must keep on providing services in its own area as institutions play a dominant role in a democratic society; otherwise, it would be too late to mend ourselves as the current circumstances are not very much sympathetic.

In this struggle it should never forgotten that it is through mutual cooperation of distinct individuals that a higher and challenging objective can be achieved. Nonetheless, the institutions require a great deal of hard work and history of dedicated efforts and there are always some pre-requisites for institutional performance.

Institution is not always the outcome of unity. It is generally perceived that when some people get together they form a institution but it is not the case. It is not the unity alone that makes collective life and endeavor possible. The other major factor is the management. Without proper management, it takes unity no time to turn into a disorder and afterwards chaos. It is management that gives unity a meaning; people united for a particular cause may not know what to do, unless management comes into play, which defines for each individual what to do and how to do. The determination of objectives, the construction of strategies and plans, the organization of resources and roles, the monitoring of activities, all depend on management. Without proper management there is no difference between the members of an institution and a crowd of people.

However, it should not be assumed that unity is not important but the overemphasis of unity may make it very absolute. People start thinking of unity as being a totally single unit without any difference at all, wherein all the parts tend to do the same thing, which is not natural and possible at all. This is the common perception in our today’s society. Our people believe wrongly that all our solutions lie in being united. They even imply that all the institutions must do the same thing as it is the demand of unity. However, such a perception is totally misleading.

Though our people need to be united, they have to be managed properly as well. Management is what we require more than unity today. Each institution must have its own objectives to achieve and its own roles to play and in the similar fashion every individual in every institution must have his/her own roles to perform. No doubt, higher cooperation and sense of responsibility and collective philosophy may lead all the institutions to contribute on their own something which is positive for the community as whole, but an absolute unity is just the figment of an imagination.   

Great institutions and even states have their confidence in proper management and find the same to be useful for every collective endeavor. At the same time, commitment also happens to be of utmost importance, as Jean Paul Sartre had said, “Commitment is an action, not a word”. We have to remain committed in performing our responsibilities and believe it would keep our endeavors consistent and help society face different challenges successfully. Afghanistan has been facing myriads of problems and decades of wars have installed a sort of pessimism within majority of people; however, Afghans have to come out of such pessimism and believe that they always have the option to change the circumstances.

Afghanistan, therefore, requires three basic factors to come out of the quagmire of difficulties and be counted among the successful nations of the world, they are; scientific approach towards analysis and recognition of the issues, Organized and well managed efforts both on individual and institutional level and determination and commitment. These factors if pursued properly would be very helpful and Afghan people would be able to solve most of their problems easily.