The Collapse of Afghanistan

Conventional wisdom suggests that the Afghan republic collapsed because societal values were incompatible with democracy and the country was simply ungovernable. This article traces the state's collapse to the highly centralized political institutions imposed after the 2001 U.S. invasion. Instead of offering citizens an opportunity to oversee their government in a meaningful way, Kabul-centric institutions—holdovers from the country's authoritarian past—undermined citizen trust in government. Flooded with vast amounts of foreign aid, the post-2001 system fostered corruption. After twenty years, Afghans were unwilling to fight for a distant government that did not treat them with dignity.