Over the last 3 decades, Afghanistan has been embroiled in conflict. Humanitarian assistance programs have been a key part of the overall multilateral effort to relieve human suffering and assist the war stricken in the country. In the post-September 11, 2001 environment, while actions are being taken to eliminate Taliban and Al Qaeda forces and others supporting terrorism, the needs have only become more urgent. Even before the current crisis, Afghanistan had suffered twenty-two years of war, which included a long Soviet occupation, followed by civil war, and, beginning in 1996, harsh Taliban rule in most of the country with a devastated infrastructure and minimal government and social services, even basic health care and education were almost nonexistent.
The Taliban leadership focused available resources largely on maintaining internal security and seeking to eliminate the last pockets of ethnic minority opposition in the North and Northeast. During this internal conflict, the Taliban placed restrictions on women working outside the home, further aggravating levels of poverty. These factors, in combination with a severe drought over many years, produced enormous human suffering in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s environment has also been severely compromised by the war and drought. The drought will have direct bearing not only on the upcoming planting season, livestock production, and agricultural recovery, but more short-term concerns as well. An inadequate supply of water has an impact on basic human needs, such as health, consumption, and shelter. Dried-up wells, poor irrigation practices, and lack of overall water management systems are critical factors as Afghanistan enters its fourth year of drought. Deforestation, lack of energy, and poor infrastructure, including roads and bridges, are also significant factors that present formidable obstacles to reconstruction. Almost every basic humanitarian need has an environmental component that will continue to be important for the foreseeable future and will require careful planning in the transition to reconstruction. For example, the restoration of electric power either could involve rebuilding conventional, dirty diesel and oil power plants or constructing distributed, clean micro turbines to provide electricity and heat, and the development of wind and solar energy.
The dream of a progressive Afghanistan could not materialize even subsequent to installment of democratic setup. The escalating rebellion and terrorism supplemented with ill-administration, corruption and bad governance have alleviated the probability of betterment at present. The dreary picture, post US withdrawal and following presidential election portrays is not substantive to build up enough confidence persuading Afghans participate in building measure of Afghanistan in substitute for quitting the country.
Consequently, large number of Afghans have in pursuit of peace, ecstasy and priceless material gain leave for foreign countries. The provision of clean water could be improved with the reconstruction of wells, development of efficient irrigation systems and monitoring of water quality. Innovative sanitation and waste treatment facilities could be designed to reduce risks to human health and ultimately destruction to the environment. Today the anti government elements (AGEs) use a system of intimidation known as the “night letter.” With this tactic, farmers and other local citizens are offered protection in exchange for increasing their opium poppy production and sharing their crop with the Taliban. Conversely, the people are threatened with harm if they do not cooperate. These efforts by the Taliban are working in direct opposition to the eradication program being initiated by the United States and others. The corrosive effect that opium poppy cultivation has on the economy of Afghanistan is substantial. Because so much of the economy is based on the poppy crop and associated drug trade, other legitimate crops and enterprises do not have the opportunity to take hold. Lack of security and the interests of local leaders in exaggerating their power; make it hard to establish the extent to which the regions outside Kabul are beyond the control of government.
Kabul the capital city of Afghanistan, in itself, has turned into an open garbage area. The only difference between a deserted area where waste from cities is transferred and Kabul is that in the later people live and in the former life of human is considered to be at great stake of deadly diseases. Kabul has fallen in the list of most polluted cities of the world. The city is facing numerous problems in regards of pollution: a virtually non-existent sewage and sanitation system, burgeoning slums, crumbling infrastructure and rapid population growth.
Kabul may be thriving after its own fashion, but Kabul is but a fraction of Afghanistan. Opium poppies have been growing in Afghanistan for centuries. This flower flourishes in Afghanistan’s dry, parched climate with its abundant sunshine. Afghanistan is also the world’s leading producer of opium, the narcotic obtained from opium poppies.
The cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan has exploded, despite massive eradication efforts by the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Afghan government. One major reason for the resilience and persistence of this agricultural endeavor is that the opium poppy remains the farmers’ most profitable crop in a very economically impoverished country. Opium poppies and the resulting heroin trade are Afghanistan’s largest industry, making continued production financially beneficial for all involved.
After the Taliban regime was driven out of Afghanistan in late 2001, efforts were undertaken by the United States and other members of the international community to establish and stabilize a liberal democratic form of government in that country. Such an undertaking is a monumental task, fraught with many obstacles and challenges. This project looks at several of those obstacles to democracy in Afghanistan, to include the absence of a democratic history and tradition, an endemic culture of corruption, a pervasive narcotics trade and drug trafficking problem, tribalism and ethnic divides among the population, and finally, the lack of support or assistance from neighboring Pakistan. Five possible strategies and adjustments to current efforts by the international community, led by the United States and ISAF, are also proposed. If these strategies are adopted, the environment in Afghanistan will be more secure, the government more stable, and liberal democracy will have a much greater chance of taking hold and flourishing. Afghanistan and this region of the world will also be less likely to harbor terrorist operations and organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to threaten the democratic nations of the world.
Though it may not yet be the slack that Iraq has become, Afghanistan too is beset by an insurgency, and serious obstacles threaten the transition to stability. Yet, the country's steady decline is somehow failing to set off the necessary alarm bells in Washington and other international capitals.