How critical is Afghanistan's stability for the rest of the world - and what needs to be done to bolster its political and security institutions?

Afghanistan remains in crisis more than eight years after a US-led military force invaded the country following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Taliban was driven from power and the international community promised to stabilise and rebuild the country. But it has not quite turned out that way.

International troops are trying to quell an increasingly resurgent Taliban insurgency, the country now produces 90 per cent of the world's opium, which is used to make heroin, corruption has seeped into every level of Afghan society, and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has come under intense criticism.

On Monday's Riz Khan we ask: Why is it so hard for Western powers to resolve the situation in Afghanistan? And has the approach to corruption, chaos, and violence been handled wrongly?

Joining us to discuss those issues will be Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the former Afghan foreign minister and presidential candidate.

This episode aired on Monday, May 31, 2010.