Today is a drizzly grey day, with temperatures just above freezing. The town turns into a mud-puddle at such occasions with the unpaved side roads slowly becoming lakes. This winter has not been very cold so far, compared to 2007 and 2006 when temperatures regularly dipped to –20C at night

For some reason I remembered today the clear skies we had only two days ago and a picture I felt compelled to take.

It was a clear January morning in Kabul. The sun was just starting to peek over the mountains. I was rushing to get ready to go to the office as I made my way to the kitchen, crossing my roof terrace. But this breathtaking view stopped me in my steps: the snow covered mountains surrounding Kabul were tinged in a light orange-pink hue. Picture perfect winter weather.

It has been proven very difficult to eliminate the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Large military involvement has failed and political efforts to stem the flow of trained Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters out of Pakistan have not yielded any results either.

Implementing a political system which installs good governance has failed so far as well because of the shortsighted and culturally tainted decisions made on behalf of Afghanistan by politicians with "cut and paste" solutions.

If, on the other hand, good governance were to be established in Afghanistan, the largest majority of Afghans would be supporting this government in the name of sustained peace and development. Whether they can make a cross on a piece of paper every four years or not will become at least secondary. So, as a first step, a political system which suits the country's level of development needs to be introduced to curb the influence which the Taliban exercise  over wide parts of the population - especially in the south.

But with their arrogance and heavily tilted world-view such a regime change will never be entertained much less supported by the foreign powers who pull the strings behind the scenes and thereby will stand in their own way of curing this country's ailments. I have eluded to that in more detail in my previous entry.

In their desperation the same foreign powers have now been considering for a while to arm local villagers so that those can "defend" themselves against the Taliban. Two issues need to be considered in connection with this:

• Arming the villagers - even if that were managed by the local shuras - is an admission of the central government's weakness and thus does not exactly support keeping the current regime in power.
• I refuse to believe the fact that the villagers in the south are actual victims who require assistance to resist the Taliban. I believe that this is a fundamental misconception of those suggesting this "solution". Much rather one should consider the fact that for some strange reason the Taliban has never run into much resistance in the southern Pashtun areas of the country while they found and are finding it much harder to gain ground in the non-Pashtun areas. While this is a politically incorrect question to ask, one needs to pose it: why?

Do the internationals, who are now suggesting arming the southern villages in defense against the Taliban, really believe that the people there need foreigners to arm them if they really wanted to fight an enemy? I believe not.

It has been said that re-arming of the villages would result in a resurgence of local uncontrolled militias like in the 1990s with local power holders fighting each other. This, too, I believe is a grave misconception which also assumes that arming themselves is dependant on foreigners or a defunct central government allowing them to.

By contrast it is hard to believe that whoever wants to arm himself and his following can would have difficulties to do so in Afghanistan. The borders to the neighbouring countries are wide open and any type of weapon suitable for an effective resistance can be smuggled in - with our without the support of the border police.

What is my point? My point is that if the residents of areas controlled by the Taliban wanted to resist they could resist out of their own efforts. This has been done before - just not in the south. In those days, too, in the first round of a Taliban take-over of Afghanistan, they ran into open doors down south. They could take the south easily, finding no resistance among their Pashtun brothers. And it's the same thing happening today: the bottom line is that the residents of the south are not ready to confront their brothers in language and culture against what they perceive to be a "Kafir" supported, corrupt central government.

The point is not that we have poor suffering southern villagers begging for grassroots assistance in the fight against the Taliban - there is no resistance to begin with. Much rather are the people sitting on the fence - waiting for who wins the conflict in order to them. And anyway: supporting Muslims is always preferred over supporting Kafirs - even if that means prolonged suffering and poverty.

And this leads to another misconception among the donor community: if the south is given the majority of the donor support, by i.e. building roads, airports etc the residents will sway their opinion with regards to poppy cultivation and support for the Taliban. I believe, they won't - for the same reason they don't source their own guns to fight the Taliban.

So, as a result the donor community will not only be ineffective in the south they will also lose support in the rest of the country by withdrawing funds from those areas which have not engaged with the Taliban much or at all. This will make the situation worse as the insurgency will not be able to be confined to certain parts of the country but will spread.

The conclusion, hence, is that only the building of stable good governance which reaches into all corners of the country can suck oxygen from the Taliban insurgence and eventually suffocate them. And for this we need a different political system which over a generation phases in democratic structures and does not super-impose them on an uneducated populace unable to handle the freedoms which come with it. If the yearning for law and order is not fulfilled by this government there will always be others promising to fill it - and that is why the Taliban is still around - not because of the poppies, not because of their human-right neglecting suppressing rule in areas they control. It's because of the lack of law and order which a people has been suffering from for over 20 years and which it has enough of.

This I have felt keenly myself for a long time. Is it because of that that Ahmad Shah Massoud has drawn me so much to him? Because he exudes culture and humanity?

I have somehow always looked for someone I can truly look up to, someone I can lean against, who takes and gives at the same time - without him crumbling, without him building protective barriers. Emotional honesty takes strength. And finding a truly strong man is hard to do - especially if you are a strong woman. There are few people who impress me.

Cultivated people for whom their outlook is neither narrow nor just skin-deep, who judge this world with humanity and wisdom are indeed in short supply these days. How I wish to be close to someone like this - in order to grow and gather strength.