Introduction

Afghanistan is a country with several longstanding problems; in the past half century, interventions by other nations have failed to address these problems, and sometimes made them worse.

The UK's involvement with the country goes back centuries: it was the centre of the 'Great Game' played out by the expanding British and Russian empires, fueled (on the British side) by a fear that Russia was planning to take over India.  In 1838, the British sent in troops to put their man on the Afghan throne - a very familiar strategy.  Arguably, it was based on two  misunderstandings of the country, which has persisted despite all evidence to the contrary.

Firstly, foreign countries - not just the British - have persisted in treating Afghanistan as an ordinary nation, with a head of state running things, supported by some combination of a civil service and the military.  But the country has - while Britain has been involved, at least - been mostly run by regional warlords, who nominally answer to Kabul, but in practice largely do what they want.  The head of state has generally been much weaker than outsiders expect.

Secondly, the country is seriously divided into the urban centres, and the rural lands.  Many of the urban centres are well connected with the outside world, and enjoy not only the material benefits of modern life, but also, to a large extent, a liberal democratic mindset.  In contrast, the rural areas retain most of their traditional practices and beliefs.  There have been numerous failed attempts by whoever was ruling in Kabul to 'modernize' the country - on one occasion, after the first World War, the King attempted to impose modern dress and the education of girls.

Over the past 50 years, there have been numerous foreign 'interventions' in Afghanistan.  Every one of them sought to impose beliefs and practices on the majority of the Afghan people, and every one failed.  Which is entirely unsurprising: you cannot change the beliefs of a people by force: you have to persuade them, and enable them to discover for themselves that what you are offering is better.

Recent History

This BBC report could be a reasonable starting point for understanding the recent history of the country: "Afghanistan's ghost soldiers undermined fight against Taliban".  It describes how endemic corruption within the Afghan state led to the collapse of their national forces and the return of the Taliban after a 20 year break.  The UK and US knew about the corruption and turned a blind eye, which made it impossible for the locals to counter it; it also led to much of the country supporting the Taliban against the state forces: while the Taliban were disliked, at least they were believed to be less corrupt than the existing regime.

This is another informative article: "What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them".