Afghans want a peace deal, and force cannot provide it -- Conor Foley in Kabul

The boom has brought jobs and prosperity to some, but it remains largely confined to a small area of central Kabul which increasingly resembles Baghdad's "green zone". Even here the "trickle down" effect has been uneven, meaning a driver working for an international organisation can earn 10 times more than a teacher working for the government. For all the talk of "building local capacity", the main effect of our international intervention seems to have been precisely the opposite

This dilemma goes back to the decisions, taken after the ousting of the Taliban at the end of 2001, to co-opt rather than challenge the motley alliance of warlords and gangsters who had formed part of the Northern Alliance. Many have now entrenched their position in a government permeated by corruption and criminality. Commanders have transformed their militias into private security companies, and combine racketeering with their official business.