Afghanistan once hoped for modern development, and political power was sustained by the promise of modernity. But through the chaos of both internal and external conflict, the political saliency of traditional values has been revitalized. These values are often underestimated by foreign powers to their detriment. The paper explores the political evolution of Afghanistan from the 1950s. It explains, using the model of economic duopoly and game theory, the exploitation by the Afghan government of the U.S. and U.S.S.R., the motives of these two powers in sustaining "peaceful competition", and why that competition broke down in 1979. The paper goes on to explain the changes in Afghan values following this conflict and the ultimate rise of the Taliban as a result. It then looks at the game played between the United States and the Taliban, and why economic sanctions and even the threat of war were insufficient in swaying the Taliban.
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