Afghanistan has long been a country that is easy to enter by external forces, but then very difficult to leave. As a result of the struggle with various conquerors, in the minds of the Afghans, the idea of any foreign troops as occupiers, with whom it remains only to fight, has firmly established itself. The invasion of the Soviet Union turned it into a Cold War battlefield, and the end of that war and the collapse of the Soviet Union turned Afghanistan into the arena of a new rivalry, this time between regional actors. Approximately 50 years before the communist takeover, Afghanistan was perhaps the most peaceful country on the Asian continent. The consequences of international and regional rivalry and inaction of the international community turned the country into a failed state, which poses a threat to international security.