It's an amalgamation of ethnic groups, loosely affiliated into a "country" as long as the country doesn't try to mess with the ethnic groups. Imagine the Grand Old United States of America before 1600. You could call it the US of A, you could call it anything, and it wasn't.

To try to force Afghanistan into the model of a Western "democracy" is to not understand the history and culture of the area. Those people are marvelously adapted to their environment, eking out a living under difficult circumstances. For Western cultures to say that McDonalds restaurants and motor scooters are the best thing for them (I've read that from one of the True Believers) is to be ignorant of the stability they have had in spite of foreign interference.

And, by the way, the Afghans have kicked the asses of any and all invaders for hundreds of years. They've found ways.

Arf