Methods of Engagement in Afghanistan Research Paper

Methods of Engagement in Afghanistan - Research Paper Example Hamid Karzai, who was elected at large as president in 2004 was again re-elected in 2009. Notwithstanding the political progress gained by that war-torn country since the toppling of the Taliban, there remain serious challenges to Afghanistan’s political and economic transition (The World Factbook: Afghanistan 2010). On the security front, the Taliban have risen again to mount what is called today a neo-Taliban insurgency, which is slowly spreading in the countryside especially in the south because of the weakening of Karzai’s support among the local tribal leaders there. Afghanistan’s economy is also one big factor that is holding back the success of the reconstruction process. The long years of conflict had taken a toll on its economy and the infusion of funds from international sources during the reconstruction is not enough to turn it around and lift the country from total poverty. Poverty has led not only to shortages in housing, food, medical care and other basic support for its population but it has also led to the difficulty in eradicating opium poppies cultivation. As a matter of fact, opium poppy cultivation increased rather than decreased after the toppling of the Taliban and during reconstruction period in 2004 (The World Factbook: Afghanistan 2010; Gootnick 55). Finall y, ethnic and religious undertones often underpin conflicts that are still raging in Afghanistan as can be evidenced from the Taliban-led insurgency in the countryside. In accomplishing a successful reconstruction in Afghanistan, the US and its Coalition must succeed in eradicating the three-pronged problem that plague and hamper it: insurgency; economic poverty, and; religious and ethnic fundamentalism. One way of affecting a solution with the least loss of lives and minimal resources is a method of engagement that has already been recently put into a test by the Coalition Forces and is known as tribal engagement. This is the most credible solution to