From the religious point of view, a bad life is one that is disconnected with virtue, piety, spirituality and other forms of relations and obedience to God. But there are other components as well that make a life bad. A bad life is also the one that is not in one's control; a life that is not accompanied with human's mastery of his/her destiny. A dignified life to be worth living and with minimum toil and misery is till void of meaning in the country and appears to remain so in the foreseeable future.

In this troubled part of the world, insecurity, violence, continued terror and other social breakdowns are the vexing and torturing signs of a bad life. In fact, insecurity and poverty have remained a constant in the lives of Afghan people. Conflict in turn impacts negatively on the livelihood and income-generation opportunities of the people, which in turn continue to contribute to the reproduction of poverty and conflict.

An insecure and poor life is destructive of human potential for development and their ability to make it worth living. A life that is thrown into this vicious cycle of conflict and poverty is a bad life. We often hear and see in formal statements, press conferences and joint declarations recognition of the sacrifices and the ongoing endeavors of the Afghan people for achieving peace as well as reaffirmed commitments to ensuring security for Afghans, eliminating corruption that runs rampant.

For instance, in late joint Declaration of Afghanistan and NATO said, "NATO re-affirms its long-term commitment to a sovereign, independent, democratic, secure and stable Afghanistan that will never again be a safe haven for terrorists and terrorism, and to a better future for the Afghan people."

Or it says the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan reaffirms its commitment to "combating terrorism, strengthening the economy, addressing corruption, regional security and economic co-operation and respect for human rights, in particular the rights of women."

But as experiences show, these sorts of reaffirmed pledges serve little to rekindle hope for a change in this bad life. They can do serve so if they are implemented effectively to really begin to effect any tangible change in public life. In fact, there remain limited opportunities for Afghans to overcome poverty and live a dignified life, which they really deserve.