So, Hamid Karzai seems to be keen on sipping Iranian tea rather than munching an American hot dog. The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) has gone for a toss (at least for the time being), and Afghanistan is now pursuing closer ties with neighbouring Iran.
A majority of Americans believe that the Afghan war has not been worth fighting. Earlier this month, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that it is "Mission Accomplished" for British troops in Afghanistan. But, Cameron's statement is far from reality.
Last week, even United Nation's Special Representative Jan Kubis said that Afghanistan is moving towards the path of stability as international troops begin to withdraw.
But there is no dearth of challenges that Afghanistan faces as a nation. Opium production is at an all time high, women's rights are a distant dream, and there are serious doubts about Afghan security forces being capable and equipped to take the lead post the NATO troops' pullout.
The upcoming elections scheduled for April 2014, will prove to be a watershed moment in Afghanistan's history. Free and fair elections are directly proportional to peace and stability in the region. The present conditions pose loads of challenges not only for the Afghan government, but also for its neighbours.
By February 2014, U.S. forces will come down to 32,000. Obama and Co. want Karzai to sign the BSA by December 31, 2013 so that they have enough time to plan their next course of action.
But, Karzai seems to be least interested about the deal. There have been indications that failure to secure the deal by the present Afghan regime might lead to a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops.
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There have been divergent views among Americans. One group supports the U.S. government's decision/plan to maintain an anti-insurgency force in Afghanistan, while the other group is strictly against any military presence.
As far as the so-called "peace talks" with the Taliban is concerned, there seems to be no considerable breakthrough, given the fact that there are "n" number of factions within the Taliban holding different viewpoints.
So far, the picture looks blurred and uncertainty looms large over the future of Afghanistan.
All that the Afghans can do is to keep their fingers crossed as the world hopes that sanity will prevail soon and it will not be a case of a boulevard of broken dreams for Afghanistan.