Former Afghan Ambassador: Dependence on outside was the biggest mistake of Afghan leaders

Ahmad Shaker Sun Jan 2026 8 months ago 949

According to him, Afghanistan's decision-makers failed to grasp the true nature of America's strategic flexibility and the mutability of that country's priorities, which led Afghanistan to remain reliant on external support for an extended period.


In an analytical note, Hedayati stated that Washington, throughout the history of its foreign policy, has consistently pursued an approach based on national interests and has never adhered to a fixed and unchangeable policy line.


In his view, America has redefined its offensive and defensive policies at various junctures, taking into account global conditions and its own temporary needs.


To clarify this perspective, he pointed to several historical examples, saying that in the 1980s, the United States used mujahideen groups to counter Soviet influence; but two decades later, amid new regional and international developments, it embarked on a path of direct dialogue with the Taliban—a process that, in the view of many observers, undermined the democratic spirit of the initial post-2001 agreements.


Afghanistan's former ambassador clarified that these shifts in approach should not be interpreted as instability in U.S. policy, but rather as a reflection of "power politics" and the primacy of that country's national interests. According to him, the main problem was that Afghanistan's leaders ignored this reality and, instead of investing in domestic capabilities, always pinned their hopes on foreign backing.


Hedayati also criticized the decision-making structures in past governments, stating that instead of relying on Afghanistan's expert, national, and committed forces, limited circles of irresponsible advisors played a determining role in policymaking—an issue that caused historic opportunities for independent state-building to be squandered.


He emphasized that from the very outset of the interim administration's formation after the fall of the Taliban regime, the space of international support should have been leveraged to establish the foundations of national self-reliance; but this vital opportunity was sacrificed to a short-sighted and dependency-driven outlook.


In the view of this former diplomat, the failure of the state-building experience in Afghanistan did not stem from any lack of capacity on the part of the United States, but rather from shifts in that country's priorities and the inability of Afghanistan's leaders to adapt to this reality—a reality that continues to cast a shadow over Afghanistan's political fate even today.

Mohammad Ashraf Hedayati, Afghanistan's former ambassador to Sri Lanka, has emphasized in recent remarks that the failure of Afghanistan's political leaders over the past two decades stems more than anything from their misguided understanding of U.S. policies.

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