WHEN British troops pulled out of Afghanistan last week, ending a 13 year conflict which has claimed the lives of 453 British service personnel, it was hailed as a moment of change in the country.
In a display of marked solemnity the flag was lowered over Camp Bastion and once again the future of Afghanistan was left in the hands of the Afghanis.
Despite the reassuring rhetoric of Western leaders it is an uncertain future at best. British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted at the time: "I made a commitment that I would get our Armed Forces out of Afghanistan by 2015 and today sees the end of combat operations in the country.
"We will always remember the courage of those who served in Afghanistan on our behalf and never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice."
There are few who seem the rate the likelihood of the Taliban rising to power again as a likelihood. Too much has changed in the intervening years. For people given a taste of freedom, with girls now being educated in allied built schools and the ability to live their own lives without threat of brutal reprisal, returning to a life under Taliban rule holds little.
The Taliban are not defeated, however, they still hold power in large parts of Afghanistan and its neighbours and for many they offer a form of stability and security preferable to the now uncertain future without them.
Warning of the threat still posed by the Taliban Professor Malcolm Chalmers, of defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, was reported as saying that it was still "a very capable organisation".
"What we have to do to prevent the country slipping back is support the Afghan state - the civilian side, making sure that teachers and doctors and nurses are paid, but also critically the armed forces," he said.
"The Afghan army has come a long way in the last few years but they're still dependent on foreign money to pay their wages and right now there's a question mark over how long that will continue."
Even without the threat of the Taliban Afghanistan is far from being the bastion of peace and freedom which politicians led people to believe that it would be 13 year ago. Afghanistan is ranked as the third most corrupt country in the world. Not a position which was hoped for when Western forces stepped in to install democracy in the country. It has a weak government which many believe unable to provide coherent governance from a centralised location for the whole country. This just adds to the likelihood of disparate groups springing up around the country. If a group similar to the so called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria does not make itself known then the opportunity for powerful militia leaders to set up their own fiefdoms may prove too compelling for some.
When Russian forces were forced out of the country in the 1980's America declared that it was a new period of freedom for the people of Afghanistan. A century earlier the same had been claimed of the disastrous British route from the country. If diplomatic efforts are not increased and support still provided then for Afghanistan it may all just be a little bit of history repeating.
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