Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Terrifying Security Situation

The situation in Kabul does not seem to be getting calm. Every day there are terrorist attacks which kill international and national troops, government employees, NGO workers and many other innocent civilians. There is great concern about the security situation and the prospects of peace and security seem to be uncertain. It is difficult to have an optimistic approach about the future as the arrangements and measures to curb the situation seem to be nowhere.

Yesterday the insurgents were once again able to carry out a terrifying attack in Karte Seh locality of Kabul. Three insurgents attacked a foreign guesthouse in the evening, which lasted for several hours. According to the last report all three insurgents were killed and two NGO workers will also killed whose nationalities were not ascertained yet. However, the terror spread by the attack may last for many days to come. 

On Thursday, November 27, as well, a suicide bomber attacked a British Embassy ­vehicle on Kabul-Jalalabad Road, killing six, including a British citizen, and injuring more than 30.

Ten hours later on the same day, a suicide bomber and two gunmen attacked a foreign guesthouse near the compound of the International Relief and Development Organization, a humanitarian agency based in Arlington. The bomber detonated his explosives near the guesthouse as the gunmen tried to enter the compound in the affluent enclave of Wazir Akbar Khan, home to several embassies and nongovernmental and media organizations.

These incidents clearly show the fact that the situation is really getting very much concerning. From now onwards, if vigilant eyes are not kept on the state of affairs, the possibilities of a disordered and chaotic future will turn to reality. It is unfortunate to note that the situation is so worse even after so much insistence from the national and international authorities.

The national unity government has not proved to be very much efficient and at the moment seems to be entangled in the issue of formation of cabinet. As, there is a delay in the formation of cabinet, there is a power and administrative vacuum and the insurgents are taking full advantage of it. The need of time is that the government should be functional as soon as possible and must start taking responsibilities before it is too late.     

At the moment the withdrawal process is also being completed and after the withdrawal process is completed, Afghan society will face myriads of issues as far as the security is concerned. The Afghan security forces require preparing themselves for the challenge and the international community must not leave Afghanistan alone.

It can be observed that Afghanistan is standing at a very crucial juncture of its socio-political history. After more than a decade of international involvement, there has been a relative stability achieved; nonetheless, that is being threatened by Taliban insurgents who do not seem in the mood to start peace negotiations with Afghan government. All the warm invitations of the government for peace talks have been rejected by Taliban and after the new government has signed the strategic and security agreements with US and NATO, their terrorist activities have increased throughout the country.

There are two important sectors that Afghanistan must concentrate on and must make improvements in so as to make their journey swift and easy through the coming challenges. One of them is the peace process and the other is the political stability in the country. Unfortunately, various developments are required in both the sectors. The peace process, lead by High Peace Council (HPC), is not on the track and currently there are no dialogues underway between Taliban and Afghan government regarding this process. Moreover, Taliban have now and then targeted the members of the Council and have completely neglected their calls for peace. The support of the neighboring countries in this regard has not been very effective.

The other sector that Afghanistan needs to work on to a great extent is its political stability. It needs to strengthen its political institutions and must carry on the democratic processes and culture with consistent efforts. Definitely, the role and future of unity government is of utmost importance.

In the meanwhile, Afghanistan needs to play a very important role regarding administrative reforms. The prevalent corruption within the present administration and within the Afghan society must be curbed if success has to be achieved. There should be honest efforts to achieve good governance and corruption free society. There are margins of improvement in the areas like justice, rule of law and human rights. Nonetheless, one of the most important sectors would be the economic stability and prosperity. A shaky economic system would not assist much in gaining political stability and eradicating the root causes of terrorism. Therefore, Afghanistan, with the support of international community, must strengthen its economic infrastructure and must decide to stand on its own in this regard.