Politics loses its real meaning when it becomes detached from people’s everyday lives. When a family struggles to afford food, medicine and fuel; when a young person sees no prospects for the future; and when women are deprived of their rights to education and employment, no discussion of power or governance can be complete without addressing these realities.
Afghanistan today faces not only an economic crisis but also a crisis of human opportunity. Weak domestic production, unemployment, economic dependence and social restrictions have placed the country in a situation where a substantial part of its human potential remains unused. This reality cannot be concealed behind official statistics or empty promises of development.
From the perspective of historical materialism, politics and economics are not separate spheres. Structures of power, ownership relations and the distribution of resources directly influence people’s lives. Therefore, examining Afghanistan’s crisis requires looking beyond changes in political personalities and investigating the relations that perpetuate poverty, dependence and deprivation.
At the international level, competition among major powers, wars and conflicts over resources and markets have consequences extending far beyond the borders of the countries directly involved. Rising military expenditure and disruptions to trade routes can increase the prices of energy, essential goods and food, while workers and low-income families have the fewest resources to withstand these pressures.
Yet one fundamental question remains: why do scientific progress and increased productive capacity not automatically improve the lives of the majority? A Marxist response directs attention to ownership, relations of production and the distribution of the fruits of social labour. The issue is not simply how wealth is produced; it is who benefits from that wealth and how its benefits are distributed.
For Afghanistan, overcoming this situation requires rebuilding domestic production, developing agriculture and industry, expanding education, creating employment opportunities and ending the exclusion of women from social participation. No development programme can achieve sustainable results while disregarding the abilities and contributions of half the country’s population.
Politics must serve human life, not sacrifice human life for the preservation of political power. This simple but fundamental principle places every programme and organisation claiming to represent the people before its historical and social responsibilities.
Afghanistan’s future will not be built through grand slogans. It will be built by transforming the conditions that have deprived millions of people of the opportunity to live with dignity.