Despite the enormous foreign aid that is bestowed on Afghanistan by the international community since the past ten plus years, Afghanistan still remains one of the worlds least developed country, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of only 528 USD in 2010-2011. More than third of the population lives under the poverty line, with three quarters illiterate and another major chunk at risk of plunging into poverty. Furthermore, lack of security, political stability and as well as inefficient governance is threatening the developmental projects across the country and most importantly challenging a smooth political and military transition which is set to occur in 2014.

On one hand there is a decline in the foreign assistance and on the contrary the armed conflict seems invincible. One can not deny the fact that development progress since 2001 has been of mixed nature. The country has experienced rapid economic growth coupled with relatively low inflation, development in the field of education and gains in basic public health. Women have started contributing more in to the economy and key social indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality rate, and maternal mortality rate have improved remarkably. But speaking in terms of governance, capacity building, and institution making the country hasn’t progressed much. In fact many other indicators have got shoddier during the recent past.

The large flow of Aid that has been poured into Afghanistan has brought in many problems with itself. Firstly, it has corrupted the local institutions and thus the money has not been utilized in a sustainable path. Secondly, major chunk of the money for Afghanistan has not been spent in Afghanistan. Contractors, large amount of imports, and outward remittances are the main causes for the outflow of aid money dedicated to Afghanistan.

Now, the reason that makes Afghanistan cross at a crossroads is the military and the political transition that is bound to happen simultaneously. The withdrawal of the international security forces and the political transition of 2014 will have a profound and durable impact on the development, security, and prosperity of Afghanistan. Military transition has to happen regardless if Afghanistan is ready for it or not. But what if the Afghan security forces fail to save Afghanistan from worsening the status-quo? In that case a smooth political transition will be the final hope to hoard Afghanistan from falling into a savage society. That can only happen if a sort of political governance come into being due to which the normal Afghan population feel that it is certainly a government by the Afghan people and as well as for the Afghan people. A sort of government needs to evolve which has the capacity to diminish the gap between the general population and the government that has been created over the past years, a government that can be held accountable for its actions. A kind of government which is acceptable for majority of Afghans if not all Afghans. But, if the international community and the Afghan people fail as far as a respectable political transition is concerned then it will imply that beyond 2014 general Afghan population is yet again thrown to the wolves. Life for them will be much shorter, much more brutal and nastier.