Despite repeated absence and presence of foreigners in the country, we have not been able to learn necessary lesson to stand on our own feet. When people look at the report-cart of political leaders, especially in last forty years, they become more concerned and pessimistic about the future. Unfortunately, in last forty years, we never have been able to think strategically about the future of Afghanistan. Neither we were serious in seeking peace and nor war, and so we have successively missed the opportunity, even with the help and presence of more than 40 countries and  pouring billions of dollars we have failed to establish a lasting peace in the country. Eventually, the Doha peace process and Mascow peace talks have all failed and the international allies have also decided to leave saying “a conditions-based approach is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever.”
All these failures send one clear message to us that the conflict in Afghanistan is complex and cannot be resolved this easy. Neither the foreigners can put an end to this complexity and nor an individual group is able to put an end to the chronic problem of Afghanistan. Now, the probabilities are more possible if we do not learn from the past. It is also possible to change the threat to opportunity if we use it as turning point for laying a strong foundation for a true peace and brotherhood in the country. Willy-nilly, the foreigners must leave one day, but we should finally make a pause and ask ourselves how long the foreigners should prevent us not to fight. 
Instead of relying on foreigners, we should rely on our unity and rationality; therefore, the leadership of government and politicians still has a chance to learn from the past and address future concerns. Unlike ordinary people, the political leaders have much to lose if the system collapses.
Hence, the Istanbul Peace Summit can be an exceptional opportunity to end the war and resolve the historic power struggle in Afghanistan. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, it is necessary to go to Turkey with strategic views with looking to the future.  In this case, we should note that any kind of nervousness and self-interest approach will further complicate the conflict of Afghanistan. With withdrawal of foreign forces, the Taliban should have no further pretexts. The Istanbul conference and withdrawal of foreign forces are good opportunities to both government and Taliban to lay a strong foundation for Afghanistan. The decentralization of power and inclusion of all ethnic groups should be one of the most important topics in this meeting. In the meanwhile, all parties must go beyond the fleeting interests of their team faction to solve the problem fundamentally. This is possible only if supporters of the Republic System and Taliban leaders learn a lesson of the past and agree with the new formula for the future.
One of the most important lessons that we should learn from the past is relying on the people, not foreigners. In fact, it is high time to rely on the people forgetting the past distances and hatreds.  If all people are united no power would be able to topple the government and political system. From one hand we must have learned from the past that no monopolistic approach would provide peace and stability in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Afghanistan is an untouched country with a strtaegic geopolitical location and so there are enough opportunities and resources in the country to feed all provided that we control our selfishness and greediness. Happily, the ordinary people of Afghanistan, especially the new generation of Afghanistan is thirsty of a peace. The bed for a pluralistic system is more ready than ever before. In fact, all ethnic groups including Pashtun, Tajic, Hazaras, Uzabek and so on are extremely suffering from the consequences of domestic division in the country. Therefore, the bed for national unity seems ready if the politicians stop their destructive and monopolistic approach.
The next important point is paying respect to the major achievement of last two decades. Undoubtedly, there are some defects in the constitution but we should reform, not destroy. We need to make a comprehensive assessment and find out those defects and issues that are not in the best interests of the country. For example, one of the problems which has breaded most of the lawlessness and chaos in last two decades has been the issue of none-strict separation of power in the country. In western democracies, the judiciary acts not only as an authority to hear people’s cases but also oversees government violations and also oversees the relations between public power and individual. Even, the judiciary has the power to overturn the decisions of the president and government agencies, while our judicially system has not power to play its expective role and so it has failed to overcome the lawlessness, corruption and the inefficiencies.
And lastly, what we need to learn from the past is that the challenges of Afghanistan have regional roots. Given the geological location of Afghanistan, the regional countries are sensitive about Afghanistan. Therefore, we need to have a collaborating approach in the region so as to anticipate a constructive contribution from the regional stakeholders.
We should make sure that Afghanistan is not used as a threat against any country in the region. If we fail to obviate the concerns of regional countries, it would not be hard for them to use any crazy groups as tool against the country. Therefore, the regional countries such as Russia Iran, India and Pakistan should be meaningfully engaged in the peace process.
We must remove all barriers to convince these countries to have a meaningful contribution in the peace process. The Bonn conference and also the Doha experiences have already showed that belittling the regional countries have negative consequences.