Four years after signing of 2001 Bonn which sought to re-establish a state in Afghanistan, American officials voiced unqualified optimism about country's future. James Dobbins, former US special envoy, claimed that agreement had moved Afghanistan toward its intended goal of a more peaceful and inclusive democracy. Bonn agreement, he said, been a remarkably successful road map toward Afghanistan's political evolution, in which all of its benchmarks have been met more or less on schedule. Outside of country, Russia, India, Pakistan, and even Iran were praised for their willingness to provide support to new government. word 'democracy' was actually introduced into Bonn talks on recommendation of Iranian delegation, stated Dobbins.1In aftermath of Taliban's fall, efforts had been made to reconstruct Afghanistan right way. Important in this respect was international community's endeavour to engage in a consultative grassroots process as a means of building a more democratic state. Afghanistan's loyajirga drew on hundreds of local representatives who together arrived at formation of a transitional government. The post-Taliban era also promised new hope for Afghan women. For first time since Taliban assumed control in 1996, girls would be educated, women's rights would be guaranteed, and women would be full participants in Afghanistan's governing process. Given stakes involved, no expense was spared in creating a bulwark against future instability or renewed civil war. Indeed, in 10 years since invasion donors have allocated over $500 billion to rein in Taliban and set Afghanistan on a path to long-term peace.And yet, in 2012, Afghanistan's political situation remains precarious and there is increasing pessimism that country can be rescued from either state collapse or a return of Taliban. AUS military report that was leaked in January 2012 indicated that Taliban remained confident that they will be able to retake control of Kabul once foreign troops have departed in 2013. Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of Taliban, report indicated. While Afghan government continues to declare its willingness to fight. .many of its personnel have secretly reached out to insurgents, seeking long-term options in event of a possible Taliban victory.2More alarming, a published UN report states that after five years of steady increases in civilian deaths, 2011 was most deadly year for Afghan civilians. A decade after it began, report concludes, the armed conflict in Afghanistan again incurred a greater human cost in 2011 than in previous years.3 Even effort to advance cause of Afghanistan's women appeared to have stalled. In another major report published in November 2011, entitled A long way to go, UN declared that while it sees growing implementation of [elimination of violence against women] law as encouraging, low numbers of complaints and cases prosecuted make it dear that Government has not yet applied law to vast majority of cases of violence against women.4As for democratic governance, it is evident that Afghanistan has succumbed to power of regional strongmen and corruption. In some cases, thanks in part to working relationships with their American backers, these warlords have grown more powerful than Afghanistan's provincial authorities and have usurped government functions of security and economic assistance from elected officials.5 According to Marina Ottaway, far from circumventing warlords, political process in Afghanistan has resulted in many of them manipulating foya Jirga and gaining positions of power. She concludes that [t]he warlords' continued influence is greatest obstacle both to consolidation of military power in hands of central government and emergence of a democratic state. …