The Washington Times: Resolving the Afghanistan Crisis

Peace has evaded Afghanistan for decades. The Russians fought in Afghanistan from 1979 until 1989. The brutal Taliban regime, a minority group, took control in the 1990s until the US-led invasion in 2001. Since 2001, the United States and its allies tried to rebuild communities with schools, agriculture projects, road construction, clinics and more. “By early 2017, the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that the Afghan central government exercised control over just 52 percent of the country, with a resurgent Taliban and now even ISIS dominating the rest of the war-torn country,” explains Seyed Hossein Mousavian for the Washington Times. Military solutions are not viable, and Mousavian calls for global and regional cooperation on a comprehensive peace plan centered around 10 principles that include avoiding proxy wars with Afghanistan maintaining a balanced foreign policy; supporting the Ashraf Ghani-Abdullah Abdullah unity government and its efforts to counter extremism; tackling corruption; addressing regional conflicts, including competing claims over Kashmir by Pakistan and India, that spread tensions into Afghanistan; organizing water sharing; and encouraging economic development and humanitarian assistance for the country’s many refugees. It’s in the interest of all – Russia, the US, Iran, China, India, Pakistan – to overcome differences to stabilize Afghanistan. – YaleGlobal