Afghanistan Still Hasn’t Recovered from Soviet Invasion

Despite rhetoric emanating from the twenty-four-hour media cycle, the basic fundamentals of Afghanistan's conflict have changed little since the rise of the Taliban in 1994. After the Soviet Union's withdrawal in 1989 and the ending of financial assistance in 1992, Afghanistan descended into financial oblivion. The very foundation of Afghanistan's economic system and livelihood prior to the Soviet Union's intervention was primarily dependent on muscle labor and rural subsistence farming. The subsequent invasion wrecked a system of living that had endured for centuries, and was replaced with a war economy dependent on foreign aid, monetization and the displacement of rural societies into urban environments—groups that would eventually become dependent on state assistance and welfare.