The real issue for Afghanistan today is what, if any, is its “national project”? And as Afghanistan political settlement is increasingly being discussed, what is the best framework for any talks? And what are Af-ghanistan negotiations supposed to produce and who can make such negotiations successful?
From a forgotten Central Asian country in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, to a land of East-West confrontation in the 1980’s, to a failed, discriminatory religious state in the late 1990’s, to a po-tential encounter of different religions and cultures and an opportunity to reset the geopolitics of an entire region and more. A nine country negotiation may become the harbinger of a new world set-up, where national projects will no longer necessarily be based on a “choiceless” identity and on an “existential enemy”.