Looming uncertainty

A "Karaoke restaurant" in Mazar-e-Sharif is usually bustling with young Afghan men who like to sing along to Bollywood tunes, or sing songs from the legendary Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir. Alcoholic beverages are not served in the restaurant and women are not allowed to enter. Customers order different kinds of tea and a variety of water pipes.

The first impression you get when you enter the restaurant is that these people do not have any worries, but once you start talking to them you realize that they come to this place to forget about the tensions of their daily lives and the political situation of the country. When they open up more, they tell you that they fear that violence will break out in the city once the foreign troops withdraw from the conflict-ridden country. One question is definitely on everyone's mind: What awaits them in 2015?

Mazar-e-Sharif is one of the safest Afghan cities. The German troops have been deployed in the city since 2002. The largest German military base, Camp Marmal, is located in the city's suburbs. The base was once home to nearly 5,000 German troops; the number has now been reduced to 1,600. According to the German government's plans, only 800 troops will stay in the country next year to help train the Afghan security forces as part of NATO's new mission.

People worried

Mustafa Kohi, a branch manager at a private bank in the nearby city of Hairataan, is a regular customer at the restaurant. The city borders Uzbekistan, from where a big quantity of fuel that is consumed in Afghanistan is transported via train. Kohi says that two years ago his bank was handling millions of dollars every week, but now "people don't want to invest money because they think that with the drawdown of foreign forces, the city might plunge into chaos again."

"Most people in Mazar-e-Sharif and Hairataan doubt that Afghan security forces are capable of providing security," he told DW.

Nasir Hussain, a university lecturer, explains the reasons: "There are three main reasons for this fear: the withdrawal of international troops, the current election deadlock, and the delay in the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Washington and Kabul."

Afghanistan 'shouldn't be another Iraq'

Outgoing Afghan president Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the BSA which will allow some NATO troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. However, both Afghan presidential candidates - Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah - have said they will sign the agreement. But it might be too late.

Recently, three Afghan soldiers were killed in Mazar-e-Sharif when they were trying to defuse explosives placed in a bicycle. Suicide bombs and explosions, which are now quite regular in the city, were occasional just a couple of years ago.

"The security situation is too fragile. I hope Afghanistan will have a future different from that of Iraq's," Soroush Kazimi, a civil society activist, told DW. "At the time when the US troops were pulling out of Iraq, the government in Baghdad claimed their forces were fully prepared to secure the country. But you can see what is happening there now," he added.