They both refer to the ability of a nation and its state to own its resources and decide on policy and systems of governance, political, economic, social, judicial and other structures. Going back more than a century, this chapter examines the meaning and application of those concepts and principles as they relate to the Afghanistan case and leading to state collapse in 2021. As a nation-state since the late nineteenth century, Afghanistan continues to be a unique case facing numerous challenges and obstacles to its sovereignty, independence and quest for peace and progress. This chapter will examine the fluctuations and nuances that drove great power politics and rivalries, regional and by-proxy pressures, and indigenous socio-political upheavals that were experienced as part of civil wars, invasions and foreign occupation, resistance and coping mechanisms. To better understand the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan republic in 2021, and the return of the Taliban’s militant theocracy to power after two decades of conflict inherited from the past, one needs to look at patterns of stability and instability, state building, governance, meddling and entanglements, resistance and reconstruction. This chapter attempts to draw key lessons via the prism of foreign policy drivers, by looking at the historical record, the geopolitical context, economic dependency and the role of influential players and elites whose agendas either match or collide with indigenous cultural or ideological movements in a multi-ethnic setting. This chapter also makes use of original research involving three interviews with key leaders and a focus group survey of foreign policy practitioners.