The link between environmental degradation and conflict has become apparent with the global environmental crisis looming larger in terms of global warming, acid rain, greenhouse effect, sea level rise, punching hole in the ozone layer, soil erosion, deforestation, desertification, depletion of earth's finite resources and diminishing capacity ofthe agricultural system than the threats of coldward East-west ideological divide, military aggression and struggle for global preponderance. Simply put, the global agenda has expanded since the demise of the coldwar as has been the need for urgent attention to these problems for solution. The report by the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Report) entitled "Our Common Future" stated: "Environmental stress is both a cause and effect of political tension and military conflicts". According to it, "nations have often fought to assert or resist control .over raw materials, energy supplies, land riverbasin, sea'passages and other key environmental resources." It predicts that "such ,conflicts are likely to increase as these resources become scarce and competition for them will increase". ( I )The civil strife and conflicts occurring in various parts of the globe beset by environmental crisis, such as Somalia and Rwanda encouraged analysts to establish a causal linkage between environmental scarcity and ' conflict. A myriad of literatures have emerged to substantiate this linkage(*) sparking a considerable debate about the nature of relationship between environmental degradation and conflict.The recent studies showing the liiihage between resource scarcity and conflict have focussed on the nature oftllreilts the environmental scarcity of renewable resources, such as, cropland, fresh water, fuelwood and fish in terms of decreased agricultural production, economic decline, health hazards and anthropogenic induced ecological disasters and flight of people to neighbouring countries have posed to the internal stability of many developing countries. The intrastate civic strifes and conflicts have in some

Another , pretext! was. piovided:to. Pakistan's General. Zia .to obtain niore niilitary aids fioiii thc United States by Soviet intervention inr.Afghanistani in f 1979. ,.Despite ,Pnkistan's 'burnin& of American emb'assy,;US:President CirteL offered a S 500 millioii niilitary'aid to €?akista'n;.an :-offer ispurned: by, Zia'Lul-Haq as peanuts. .Reagan adiiiiiiistration alsolupgradedl tlie'contiiiucd'siipply of.ini1itax-y aid to Pakistan in Septeniber'.1,98 1;'oiiiUnited :States S 3.2 billion'iiiilitary and ecoiiomic assistanck eiicoiii'ljassiiig I ~511i'gLins; Cobra gunships, TOW &ti-tank! iiiissiles; upgradation. ofM48'tii;ks to.A3 stahdard with a prize catch containing US coniniifmeiit to supply 40F-I 6 planks on a cash basis of S 1.1 billion, 70 of them before October 1982j.

With the end of Cold War the relative dominance of the military–political notion of security plummeted reflecting the widespread recognition of the sources of security being diversified away from the centre stage, that is, the state. In recent years what have catapulted into the centre stage of both policy and strategic thinking are the environmental apocalypse, poverty, economic decline and other social crisis of identity, drug and human trafficking and politics of racism, minority, human rights and feminist indignation and population age structure brushing aside the political–military construct of security hovered around state and its apparatus to the fringe. Out of all these non-traditional security threats population age structure stands preeminent in view of its impact on stability and liberal democratic character of a state. The very word people is no longer a homogenous term. If the number of youths of a particular age group surpasses the other age groups in a nation it has serious implications on its security, and political stability. This is termed as ‘youth bulge’ which can turn into violence and civil war in case of failure of the state in providing them jobs, education and economic sustenance. This article explains how youth bulge in Afghanistan can greatly affect its transition to liberal democracy in the context of American withdrawal from Afghanistan and failure of the government to address the socio-economic challenges the people face in the society. When state fails as a constitutional and institutional device to meet all these challenges, slipping into the hands of Taliban which provides better economic prospects can become a fait accompli. Then the devil is easily identified in the demography. The stranglehold of America on Taliban seems to be waning with its decision to withdraw and involvement of Taliban in the peace talk. This will aggravate the situation further in Afghanistan as its youth bulge is very much disenchanted with the existing socio-economic landscape casting a shadow over its stability and transition to democracy.

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