Jessica Berlin is founder of CoStruct, a strategic consultancy for sustainable business and policy innovation. She has worked for the US government and for German development cooperation in Afghanistan. She says: “ 20 years of war on terror in Afghanistan may have created more terrorists than it defeated.”

Andrew Gilmour heads the peace building organization Berghof Foundation, which has been working to promote dialogue between the different parties in Afghanistan. He believes: “The international community needs to talk with the Taliban, and encourage positive behaviour. A rejection of dialogue would be counter-productive.” 

Ahmad Wali Achakzai is a colleague here at DW, working with the Dari&Pashtu department. And he is convinced: "The Taliban are fighters. They will fail in state-building."