Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Do not Let People Die Just for the Catchword of Transition

In the face of growing insurgent attacks, President Hamid Karzai and other security officials have stated that the enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan will not be able to stall the process of transition of security responsibility from international troops to Afghan national security forces. Of course, the government was able to proceed with holding ceremonial events in Bamyan and Panjshir provinces as well as in Lashkargah and Mehtarlam, the provincial capitals of Helmand and Baghlan provinces respectively and in cities of Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif to mark official handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces.

This event is yet to be conducted in Kabul. Some major terrorist attacks have occurred before, around and after these events. On Sunday, July 31, 2011, ten policemen and a child were killed in a suicide car bombing in Lashkargah, where a week ago the transition ceremony took place. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber named Mohammad Gul from the Nad Ali district of the province.

Ten people were injured in the incident, which comes just two days after 16 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed and many more were injured when a passenger vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Nahr-i-Siraj area of Greshk district of the province. On Thursday, July 28, 2011, 19 people got killed when a group of suicide bombers stormed government buildings in Tirinkot, Urozgan province.

The casualties from these bloody assaults are startling and the bitter fact that civilians are the main victims. Insurgents have been launching terrorist attacks into areas where the government is weak. The government and international community have lost their will to stamp out these obstinate terrorist forces instead they repeat the calls for reconciliation and reintegration and their statements that enemies cannot obstruct the transition process, which runs void of meaning when people continue to get killed on daily basis.

The government must allow Afghan people to die just because of the catchword of transition. On Saturday, July 30, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the Transition Chief, told participants in a session on landscape of peace and assessment of existing security situation in Afghanistan that there are challenges and perils facing security handover process in the country. According to him, Afghanistan still fails to find its moral, political, social and economic gravity centers.