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If going into a war is divisive, so is pulling out of one. Last Wednesday President Biden announced that he would take American troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, 20 years after the terrorist attacks that led them to go there in the first place. This has been a war mired in controversy and while the US has had to do much soul searching over its military role, this exit will also create challenges. In a recent piece in the Washington Post, Pamela Constable writes whether the American withdrawal might lead to a Taliban takeover or a bloody civil war, - and if so, she asks would the sacrifices of almost 160,000 thousand Afghans, not to mention the thousands of US and NATO troops killed by wartime violence have been in vain? There’s a danger of forgetting these numbers, and that in itself should remind the international community, that we have a responsibility to Afghanistan because no country should feel as if it’s been left destined to fail. And yet despite the ongoing fears of an all out civil war between the government and the militias, the stepping up of violence and repression of freedoms by the Taliban, there has been change, not just through education and opportunities, but in people’s expectations. Many Afghanis have breathed new ways of living through higher education, work and exposure to the democratic freedoms enjoyed by more peaceful nations. It seems to me this is how we in the West can continue to help. We may no longer have boots on the ground, but we can continue to offer help from afar when needed- with diplomacy, helping improve a country’s economy, sending humanitarian aid and resources, developing capacity and job opportunities and working alongside the men and women who persevere despite the threats of brutality and ethnic conflict. Their struggle should inspire us. Peace can’t always be politically mandated – it mostly comes through a shared state of consciousness where people come together to build a new society and create a different legacy. The Qur’anic phrase ``God doesn’t change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves,’ demands thinking what does my faith require from me and what do I have to change in myself? For many of the Taliban, their ideological goal is to realise a particular understanding of God’s law – an oppressive control over society and a cloistered existence, especially for women. For other Muslims, their faith and fidelity to their country means greater pluralism, civil liberties and moral freedoms – a country of new hopes - the political battle is really a battle of two interpretations of Islam. Whichever one wins, it will not only affect Afghanistan, it could affect us all.