Afghanistan faces difficult year as US/Nato combat mission ends

FORMER US presidential candidate John McCain, who visited Kabul over Christmas, has warned that Afghanistan faces a potentially major upsurge in Taliban violence in 2015, including the possibility of Peshawar-style attacks on schoolchildren. His intervention coincided with the Dec 31, 2014, end of 13 years of US and Nato-led combat mission in Afghanistan.

From Jan 1, the Afghan army took lead day-to-day responsibility for security in the country with the remaining contingent of around 13,000 US and Nato forces stationed primarily for training purposes (almost 11,000 US personnel). Senator McCain, who is likely to become chair of the US Senate Armed Services Committee in January, asserts that a significantly larger foreign force is needed to help repel the Taliban this year, and has warned that Afghanistan risks becoming destabilised in what he called the "same movie" we have seen in Iraq.

The handover of lead responsibilities from the United States and Nato comes at a critical moment for Afghanistan on the security, political and economic fronts. Indeed, the country stands at a historical crossroads which could see significantly greater destabilisation, as Mr McCain has warned, or the possibility for preservation of the fragile gains made in the country in the post-9/11 era.