I hoped this meant the end of ten years of conflict and that peace at last was retuming to Afghanistan. Unfortimately this was not to be the case. The fighting continues today. Worse, Afghans are fighting Afghans in an increaseing ethnic war unprecedented in Afghan history. Thus internecine conflict continues to the detriment of the Afghan people, the region, and the world.
War shows no signs of abating.
The Taliban occupy eighty-five percent of the country but do not exercise effective control, particularly in the North. Elements of the Nonhem Alliance continue to resist and have actually improved their position in recent months. We believe there is no military solution to this conflict, yet the Taliban has demonstrated no willingness to work for a political settlement, largely because they still believe they can win militarily. We and others in the intemational community are working to change this view. Terrorism Afghanistan is geographically remote from us, but the effects of twenty years of conflict are not.