Federal Republic of Afghanistan

Since a long time, there is war in Afghanistan. Firstly, there are the Taliban, who rule many parts of the country which causes many people to live in fear. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, where people suffer caused by the horrible circumstances and living conditions. Due to the daily terrorist attacks, many children lose their fathers, their mothers, their siblings or even their whole family and have to live as orphans as well as trying to survive alone.

Secondly, there is the US government, who helped the Pashtuns and the Taliban to rule the country and to suppress the other ethnicities. Through the US the Taliban had the weapons and the power to kill a great soldier and a national hero, the Tajik Ahmad Shah Massoud, who wanted to help all the ethnicities to live in harmony. Even though through the media it is shown that America is trying to help Afghanistan, no one has questioned or even thought about why they have to interfere in Asian countries such as Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan.

And lastly, there are wars mostly between the Pashtuns and the other Farsi-speaking ethnicities, like the Tajiks, Uzbeks or Hazaras. The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, is a Pashtun, who doesn’t represent the ethnicities of the country at all and also suppresses the other ethnicities.

Will Afghanistan ever find peace and harmony with all these problems or will it remain a failing state?

The answer is yes, this country still has hope, and the only solution is to change the current system to a federal system.

Federalism is a form of political organization that brings separate states or other polities under a larger political structure together while preserving their independence. Federal systems do this by ensuring that basic policies are developed and adopted in some form of agreement, so that all members can participate in making and carrying out decisions. The political principles that govern federal structures highlight the importance of cooperation and negotiated coordination among multiple power centers, as well as the benefits of decentralized power centers in protecting individual and local liberties.

Federalism is the only method that eliminates the long-term disputes between the ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Each folk has its own state and government and can establish its own new rules, which are imposed only on its own state, in addition to the basic rules established by the national government. One can decide on the expenditure of financial resources or the number of schools and hospitals that the state must build for the population. Moreover, the state can rely on its neighboring states when it needs help or is in a difficult situation. It is no longer necessary to rely on the help of other countries, such as the USA or Pakistan.

But the biggest advantage of this is that you have more control over the Taliban. The Taliban, as mentioned before, are spread all over the country and it is very difficult to watch over all of them and protect the population in the affected districts. Now that each state can decide for itself for the most part, you can fight the Taliban in your own state and even extinguish them. This creates more control over the terrorist organization and security for the population. The miserable acts of the Taliban, such as raping children and women, will come to an end.

By changing Afghanistan’s current system into a Federal system, there will be no longer wars between the different ethnicities, the Taliban are more supervised, which benefits more security and safety for the people living in Afghanistan and lastly there is a higher chance for the country itself to solve future problems on their own, without any help from the outside. A federal system is the only and last method to help our country.

Nazanin Arjai