International community led by United States had promised to the people of Afghanistan about the reconstruction, rebuilding, reorganization and reinvention of the state structure of the war torn country in the initial stage of war on terrorism in the country. After more than eleven years in war on terror in Afghanistan, the country is still creeping in the graveyard and people have also realized the slow process of reconstruction and development.
Citizens are well aware of the government and international community's slow reconstruction process. Even the poorest and most ignorant Afghan is aware that the international community has poured billions of dollars into Afghanistan's reconstruction. But, the plight of the people has not changed.
Among the many victims of the Afghan war is the Afghan state which has lost its position and power. The state, understood as a political authority capable of managing and directing a society, has always been an extremely brittle edifice in Afghanistan, often relying for support on foreign powers—the United Kingdom in the 19th century, the USSR, and now the United States and coalition forces.
Armed conflict retards a country's development process, and also erodes its developmental foundation. In addition to the huge loss of lives, war leads to material losses, such as destruction of crops and roads, and extensive damage to economic and social infrastructures. Transportation and communication systems, banking, health care, education, and agriculture are often damaged or destroyed. The economic stress caused by war lessens production capacity and limits the investment capabilities of war-torn regions.
The international community is calling for the creation of a democratic, secular state in Afghanistan. Given the extreme fragmentation and militarization of Afghan society, democratic reconstruction cannot possibly work.
Instead, the government needs to devise a more modest and realistic program, aimed at creating peace and restoring basic economic functions rather than rebuilding the entire state. In deep divided societies, like Afghanistan, questions of how to deal with the past are acute, especially, when the past involves memories of victimization, death, and destruction so widespread that a high percentage of the population is affected. Wars, however, still exist, together with the fears of instability and nightmare prospects of annihilation.
With the demise of grand ideologies such as communism, we now observe the rise of nationalism and cultural intolerance; the rule of law enjoys a limited reach, leaving many societies under autocratic rule; the end of global nuclear nightmares may have opened opportunities for nuclear wars at the regional level.
A plan for recovery and reconstruction must focus both on immediate needs and long-term development projects. People must have reasonable access to basic needs such as health care, nutrition, education, and housing.
Meeting these immediate needs is especially important for young children, pregnant or nursing women, the elderly, and the extremely poor. In addition to extreme poverty, disease and illiteracy are dangerous impediments to sustained economic and political progress. Afghanistan, after 9/11, the present government has shown no willingness to speed up the efforts that would be required to make the country once again the functioning nation it was before the civil war.
Economic hardship, lack of security, domestic violence, illiteracy and maternal mortality are issues still affecting the process of reconstruction in the post-Taliban Afghanistan. With poverty and illiteracy within Afghanistan at the worst levels in recent times, and with no immediate signs of growth and reconstruction in sight, there are fears that Afghanistan will return again to the earlier period of instability.
To all Afghanistan's troubles — grinding poverty, widespread illiteracy, disease and an intensifying insurgency add one more. As the Afghan government wants to steer the reconstruction process, its political, social and economic institutions have no ability to effectively administer and run the huge enterprise- the reconstruction of the country.
The institutions are, unfortunately, corrupt and the people working there are mostly of low qualification. Finally, with this setup, reconstruction and reorganization of the state in Afghanistan is very challenging. Afghanistan requires to do much so as to reach a dignified position.