There are different types of human beings on our planet earth. It is really strange and interesting that no two human beings can be found here who are completely similar. There are differences among all the human beings; these differences include physiological differences, psychological differences, differences in ideas, thoughts and many other aspects of life. Then there are differences in interests and objectives as well. All these differences though have the tendency to embellish our planet with variety, have the capacity to generate conflicts among human beings.

Conflict is basically the clash among the interests, thoughts, ideas and behaviors of two or more individuals or groups of individuals. Conflict mostly generates a sort of disturbance in human society and at the same time disturbs the prevailing harmony. However, conflicts can also initiate certain developments and evolution, which is their positive outcome.

Conflict can be found at two levels – individual and collective. Individual conflicts are basically found within individuals’ personal lives. There are so many occasions in families and offices wherein an individual has to face conflicts. Sometimes family members – brother and sister, son and father, and husband and wife, and at other times friends or coworkers are involved in some sort of conflict. And when we see on the collective level, there can be conflicts within two groups, two states or two or more groups of states.

The basic question is why a conflict is generated and is there any way to avoid it or to solve it? Conflict is generated because there are different human beings living on earth – as far as distinctions and differences are there, there are possibilities of conflicts but their chances are enhanced by certain practices that are carried out by human beings themselves intentionally or unintentionally. One of the basic reasons of conflict is misunderstanding. Misunderstanding has the tendency to generate and enlarge a conflict to a great extent. One of the basic reasons of misunderstanding is the communication gap or communication errors. There are many occasions when people get in an argument because either the speaker is not able to communicate his real meaning to the listener or the listener is not able to comprehend completely and correctly what the speaker is saying. And then with this complication, there are complications of perceptions and frames of reference.

Every human being has his unique perception and frame of reference through which he understands the world or the different phenomena, processes and happenings in the world. So, the objective reality is not necessarily what a person perceives; what a person perceives is basically the subjective interpretation of the objective reality. In this way the process of communication is also made complicated and there are always possibilities of differences and clashes between people because of communication.

The differences in interests are another main reason of conflict. There are different sorts of interests that a person strives to pursue in his or her life. These interests range from a very minor personal benefit to the large economic and political benefits. However, most of the interests are measured in economic terms in today’s capitalist society where almost every person is running after money. There is a tough competition among the people to achieve different resources so as to make their lives comfortable; unfortunately, these resources are limited and everybody cannot have what he wants. This gives rise to a competition and on most of the occasions this competition ends in clashes and conflicts. Therefore, the differences in interests have a potential to generate different types of clashes.

The differences in interests turning into conflicts can be best understood in the context of collective life. Take the example of different countries. All the countries in the world have certain interests, which are pursued and defined by the countries’ political systems and governments.  All the countries want to pursue their national interests through diplomatic means; however, the diplomatic trickery cannot always earn the countries their interests as others also have certain interests which clash with them. This situation generates conflicts among nations, which, if not resolved through diplomatic prudence may turn into wars.

The conflicts have the capacity to bring wars, disorders and destructions; therefore, efforts should be made to resolve the conflicts in a proper manner. It basically starts with the personal endeavors. In personal life, conflict can be resolved in so many ways. The most important point is to understand that the conflicts are unavoidable and they are bound to occur; therefore, the imperative thing is how to respond to the conflicts. There are three main categories of an individual’s response to the conflict.

First, he may remain very much pessimistic to the conflict and try to avoid it even though it is affecting him. This sort of response is basically of a defeated individual who does not have any enthusiasm to change the status quo. By neglecting the situation he may think that it may not influence, which at the end turns out to be a misconception. They are like the pigeons that close their eyes when they see the cat, thinking that if they do not see the cats they may stop existing or like the ostriches that after seeing the danger bury their heads in soil. Such people may mostly become the victims of social isolation and they may even commit suicide as the conflict would at last influence them and they would not be ready to face it.

The second response is that of very aggressive people. They are the ones who overdo most of the things on most of the occasions. They are the ones who basically generate conflicts. Most of the discriminations and even murders are committed by such type of the people. They are in fact on the other extreme of the situation.

Then there is the moderate response and that is considered as the most appropriate one. That is response of a real peace-maker. Such a response is marked with a passionate analysis of the conflict situation and determining ways of overcoming them. Such a response is neither pessimistic nor too much affirmative; it, at its best, is responsive.     

With a moderate response it is possible to thwart certain conflicts. For a moderate response it is important to have certain personal qualities as well. The personality traits like tolerance and prudence can be very much helpful in resolving conflicts. Sociable behavior would also be very much helpful in strengthening social bonds and weakening the probability of conflict formation. Moreover, it is also necessary for a person to be result-oriented so as to reduce the chances of conflict.

Another important aspect of resolving conflict or avoiding it is to understand that the conflict is not just always created by others but a person himself may also be the cause of the conflict. It has been observed by the conflict experts that a person mostly considers himself or his instance, ideology or thoughts as correct while others’ as false.

Therefore, he always insists that others need to change themselves while he himself is perfect and does not need to bring about any change within his personality. Mahatma Gandhi had rightly said, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” which is the only true way of bringing about any difference in our world. Always considering others to be wrong is definitely one of the basic reasons of conflict. If there is no flexibility in attitude and thinking, the chances of conflict are enhanced.

As a human it is necessary for a person to understand that others like him/her are also human beings and they also have certain needs which have to be fulfilled. Among these needs, the rudimentary requirements are the most essential ones; while there are many supplementary needs as well. Among these needs, security needs, the needs for love and belongingness and the needs for respect and self-actualization are very dominant ones.

It is really important for an individual to understand that others also want that they should be respected, their views should be heard and their differences should be understood. If this does not happen, there is always a possibility that others might start feeling neglected and even insulted. If the ideas of others are not respected and their ideas are not given importance they are bound to feel their identity and even their existence in danger and therefore they may react violently.        

If taken on collective level, as mentioned earlier, there are conflicts among groups, institutions, states and even groups of states. In order to resolve the conflicts among the groups and institutions it is necessary to adopt democratic culture and tradition. The democratic principles allow the groups, institutions and states to form an administration or government through the consent of all the people involved. These principles make sure that everybody should have a say not only in the formation of the administration or the government but also in the undertakings of the government.

Another important key to resolving conflict within the groups and among the groups is the rule of law. It is necessary to prioritize justice and consider it above the social, economic and political status. Both the weak and the strong should be treated alike and they should be considered equal while justice is being implemented.

If there is distinction between the rich and poor and the powerful and the powerless, the conflicts are bound to multiply. The grievances are bound to compel the people to consider the status quo as unsatisfactory and the discriminating strata of the society as their enemies and consider it necessary to pursue their rights even in violent ways. 

The absence of justice in a state and between the states has given rise to different forms of conflicts. As the nations of the world are divided between strong and weak, stable and instable, first world and third world, there have been many instances when the strong nations have dominated the weaker nations and have, as a result, violated the pre-requisites of justice. Such situations on most of the occasions have turned into wars and taken the lives of millions of people.

Apart from the implication of justice, there is a need for an arbitrator, mostly in the conflicts among the nations of the world. And it is also necessary that the arbitrator should be strong enough to exert its decision and bound the nations of the world to act as per the demands of the decision. Unfortunately, such a body has not been created yet.

Though there have been many examples of regional and international institutions that have been created so as to perform responsibilities as arbitrators to solve the conflicts among the nations but they have mostly lacked the type of authority required to exert their decisions. They have mostly been dominated by the strong nations of the world and have not been able to stay truly independent and just.

Afghanistan is also one of the nations that have been suffering from conflicts as well. There are different reasons of the conflicts in Afghanistan. There have been religious intolerance, tribal bounds and ethnic controversies. All these conflicts have basically been utilized politically and have been intentionally turned into troublesome issues; therefore, they have influenced Afghan nation to a large extent. There is no doubt in the fact that Afghan society is a heterogeneous society; but this heterogeneity could best be used in order to embellish the social structure with variety and different colors.

Unfortunately that has not been the case. There have been different countries that have taken advantage of the differences in Afghan society for their political motives and have given rise to conflicts and wars within it. In most of the cases Afghan society has been used as buffer zone and as a battle ground for the wars and conflicts of other nations in the world.

Today to resolve the conflicts in Afghanistan it is necessary to work on different levels. The foremost priority is to chalk out the parties to the conflict and start a process of comprehensive dialogue among them. Identifying the parties to the conflicts is very much necessary as neglecting any of them would result in the failure of the process.