Small Wars Journal

In Afghanistan’s Season of Crisis, ‘Words Do Not Have the Strength’

Thu, 10/18/2018 - 12:29am

In Afghanistan’s Season of Crisis, ‘Words Do Not Have the Strength’ by Mujib Mashal – New York Times

In the past 17 years of war and crisis in Afghanistan, no one remembers a season quite like this one, with peril and hopelessness at every turn. People here struggle for words to explain how it feels…

If there is a common theme in this upswell of alarm and worry that seems so widespread, it is a sense that no one sees any clear path through a minefield of crises.

And with a parliamentary election coming on Saturday, in which 2,500 candidates are contesting 250 seats, the possibility of widening political disputes and intractable division poses an immediate concern. After five elections and nearly $1 billion spent on them, there is little consensus on how voting should happen, and elections have become flash points for instability.

Any one of the problems facing Afghanistan right now would be an urgent national issue. Together, they have created an existential moment.

Afghan and international officials consider government security forces’ losses to the Taliban to be unsustainable, as the insurgents continue to threaten districts and towns…

Read on.