Political instability is one of the core problems of Afghanistan. There have been arguments about the main causes of continued political conflicts in Afghanistan. However, what mainly has not been explained in the many analyses is the fact that in most cases of all the case of political instability in Afghanistan, it is evident that the major problem is leadership. In this context, Afghanistan has seen its freedom fighters and heroes turn into dictators, while robbing the natural resources, politics of exclusion and deprivation to tip the balance of power has steadily continued to dominate the public sphere.
To-date Afghanistan is still haunted by historical injustices and oppressive structures that were conferred on to the foreign backed leadership in the past. As a result, it is an aspect that informs the weak institutions of the state, inconsistent legislative systems and unvarying struggles for political power to the determent of the well being of the nation, which could have moved on path of development as part of modern societies. While the regional community, especially the neighboring countries, whose geo-security and resource interest seem to benefit from the status quo in Afghanistan, has not been pro-the establishment of functioning systems and strong governments in the country, as a substitute, their involvement, continue undermine Afghanistan’s stability through the militarization of conflicts, by creating and using different Islamic militia groups, for accumulative purposes.
However, political instability in Afghanistan owes much of its cause to internal factors. Thus, the interpretation of internal and external factors especially geo-political and economic interests of the international and regional community constantly play a determining role in undermining the processes of social development in Afghanistan. Considering such factors as unequal development, poverty, disease, violence and the manipulative tendencies of the local elite, political and economic stability in Afghanistan is always under threat. Not surprisingly, such threat is not arising from within the country but from external interests whose thirst for our resources, continue to form the dynamics in areas related to governance. Resources in Afghanistan if well managed are capable of providing fully for its population. However, it is crystal cut that stolen wealth from Afghanistan usually ends up in banks abroad.
Administrative scholars argue that, the existing institutions of the state and how they function are problematic in the context of Afghanistan. Though institutional frameworks are available to guide processes and delivery on essential services, the continued weakening of these institutions, through political mechanization and traditional nature of Afghan elites, working in cohorts with external interests also leads to further undermining of stability in the country. This inclination intensifies resources wars, ethnic rivalry, and electoral violence. Indeed, many developments and events might give the impression that Afghanistan is still drifting, but there are also positive signs taking place in the country and the drift needs to be analyzed from several perspectives that capture both positive and negative occurrences and what informs the direction of these events. Evidently, there are pull and push factors, which maintain forming the internal motivators in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, Afghan people have not remained static, even though there are many retrogressive tendencies. They have made great advancements, including their level of political awareness and popular participations in political processes. The wide spread corruption, including political corruption and electoral frauds have not succeed to disappoint them. On the other hand, the leadership dilemma and many other governance related malpractices have been challenged more and more from within, as people begin to understand the broader implications of bad politics and the consequences of governance structures that are oppressive and unjust.
Afghanistan has experienced political instability more than four decades. There have been constant debates that the root cause of the continued political instability exists out of the Afghanistan. But the bitter truth is that it owes much of its cause to internal factors and bad governance is the heart of different conflicts including the political one in the country. As a result, bad governance has weakened the governments in Afghanistan that not only has paved the way for the external interferences in the country but also has made the Afghan governments to be dependent on the foreign powers and not the Afghans.