Withdrawal from Afghanistan is the right call, but at what price?

Within Afghanistan, people are concerned about the Taliban's return of power and influence. An organization with a medievalist outlook that has not significantly changed in the past twenty years, it still clearly has substantial appeal among Afghans. Many in the country are doubtless concerned about a return to the civil war and warlordism that scourged the country during the 1990s. Both of these are sadly possible outcomes. But this is not the same country as it was before. And it is not clear that all the gains of the past two decades will immediately be lost. Regional powers still have a vested interest in ensuring that some stability exists, and that violence in the country does not get too out of hand. The key question in all of this, however, is what the Afghan people want and how their leaders will help them achieve it. The ultimate answer to Afghanistan’s long troubles will only ever come from within the country.