In Order for Afghanistan to Succeed, America Must Let it Decentralize
A centralized political system in Afghanistan only intensifies the competition for power and increases the cost of holding the country together.
Charles Santos is a former United Nations political advisor and mediator for Afghanistan with more than thirty years of experience in Central Asia.
Ivan Safranchuk is an associate professor at MGIMO University (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) and a nonresident fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Image: An Afghan security force stands guard at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan August 29, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani