Most of the Afghans have the dream of having peace restored in their country. They want to see their country prosper and stand among the developed countries of the world. They, at the same time, desire that they have a safe and secure life in a peaceful country. However, they have not been able to see this dream come true though they have given a lot of sacrifices in this regard.

The poor civilians in Afghanistan have been undergoing the worst consequences of insecurity. Whether it is the direct consequence where they become the victims of blasts and attacks or the indirect consequence where they are targeted by the instability invigorated by the circumstances, they have seen the worst. Every day there are pieces of news about the target killings, roadside and suicide bombings, and coordinated attacks by the insurgents and every day we find the civilians becoming their victims.

In one of such attacks on Thursday, April 02, 2015 a suicide bomber carried out attack among the anti-governor protestors in Khost province. The attack was really huge and intentionally carried out among the crowd, therefore, it proved to be very lethal. It has, so far, taken the lives of 20 people, including former provincial council candidate Khan Zaman, tribal elder Sher Nawaz Haqmal and Wolesi Jirga member Humayun Humayun and some of their body guards and at the same time it has injured 64 others, among whom there are several in serious condition. Mubariz Zadran, spokesman for the acting governor, has said that the attacker was on foot and blew himself up among the crowd.    

This attack seems to be cowardly as it targeted the unarmed civilians directly, who were busy in some sort of peaceful protest. These sorts of attacks clearly show the intention of the culprits and make it clear that the insurgents have reached to the lowest degree of morality and can take advantage of every opportunity they can in order to show their strength. 

President Ashraf Ghani, on Friday, visited some of the injured, who were transferred to Kabul, in Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital, and condemned the attack in the strongest terms. He condoled with them and directed the hospital staff to leave no stone unturned in ensuring better treatment. Though the visit was important and may prove to be soothing for the victims to a certain extent, more needs to be done so as to guarantee peaceful life for the people of Afghanistan. The lives of the common masses seem to have no value in Afghanistan and they can be victimised anywhere, any time; therefore, it is really imperative that the government must have both short term and long term policies to restore security for the people of Afghanistan.

In another unfortunate incident seven members of a family were killed in roadside landmine blast on Friday in Baraki Barak district of central Logar province. There were two men, a woman and four children, on their way to home in a car but never reached there. This shows how uncertain the lives of the civilians are in Afghanistan. The civilians in this incident never had any intention to fight someone, nor to support someone in fighting; they were simply going to their home, which proved to be really costly for them. 

It is important to note that civilians have been killed mercilessly as if their lives do not have any value or meaning and Taliban are mostly behind these killings. Various assaults, bombings, shootings and suicide bombings of the heartless supporters of the so-called holy war have only targeted the innocent and guiltless children, women and men. With such facts in hand, it is really strange to see Taliban calling themselves friendly to Afghan people. Taliban, insistently, have claimed that they do not target the civilians directly but the reality shows a totally different picture – contrary to what they claim.  

It is also worth mentioning that Taliban have been striving to develop an image of a caring group that is trying to liberate the people of Afghanistan from the Western forces. Nonetheless, the fact is on the contrary. They want to gain more and more power and for that they will never hesitate to sacrifice the poor Afghan civilians. They will not hesitate an iota to target the weaker strata as they do not have proper security to guard themselves and are soft targets. If Taliban come to power again, it is clear that Afghan people will not have security, contentment and above all their due rights.

With the current rising wave of terrorism, it should not be forgotten that Taliban have been able to grow largely in the recent few years. The promises that were made prior to the transition period do not seem to be pursued properly and after the withdrawal of the international security process, with no peace deal in place with Taliban, it would be very difficult to ensure peace and security in the country and this is an alarming situation for the poor civilians. 

For the poor civilians to have peaceful and secure lives, the post transition and withdrawal period in Afghanistan has to be a period that can give poverty stricken Afghan people their rudimentary requirements, ensure that their lives have as much value as the lives of the powerful and influential people in the country and that they have the right to pursue their dreams of a common life.