Trump administration should revise key assumptions about Washington’s approach to Afghanistan.


Davood Moradian is the director-general of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies and former chief of programmes in President Hamid Karzai's offic... e and chief policy adviser to Afghanistan's ministry of foreign affairs.
Trump administration should revise key assumptions about Washington’s approach to Afghanistan.

Deepening political crisis could prove to be fertile ground for separatist sentiments to grow in Afghanistan.
![An Afghan boy sells the national flag on a roadside in Jalalabad, Afghanistan [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/8734ba1747eb4ef685699bd40d4b0f74_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Only legitimate, effective and sustainable politics can untangle the country from its multitude of challenges.

Despite Afghans’ proven records in ethnic harmony, the growing ethnic polarisation can easily spread across the society.

The general weariness of the Afghan conflict provides the necessary push for finding a viable peace settlement.

The nuclear agreement could be a vital booster for the restoration of Afghan heritage.

The Afghan government is on the path towards collapse – can anything be done to prevent it?
![Afghan Crisis Response Unit personnel take up positions during a training exercise in Kabul [AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/6f0e7c3fd4d142c2992f599646130abf_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Can Ghani, Abdullah and Obama create a new narrative for troubled Afghan-US relations?
![Ghani, Karzai and Abdullah during a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the death of Former Afghan Vice President Marshal Mohammed Qasim Fahim [AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/15f454477aff4be4b0d94eef7f6069b3_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
What remains unrecognised is the West’s complicity in denying Afghan democratic aspirations.

After a highly personality-driven electoral process, contested results have put Afghanistan’s stability at risk.
![The second round of the presidential election has polarised Afghan society, writes Moradian [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/20147612439596580_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)