Security incidents have now become the order of the day in Afghanistan. Everyday there are tragic news from different parts of the country regarding bombings and ruthless killings by Taliban insurgents. The prospects of peace and tranquility are becoming darker with each passing day. The promises of negotiations and reconciliation do not seem to be turning into tangible steps and within such a scenario Afghan civilians are the ones who are suffering the most.
Neither there are steps being taken for paving the way to development that could guarantee providence of basic requirements to the people; nor are there arrangements to guarantee their security. Government authorities mostly blame insecurity as a hurdle towards development and claim that most of their energies and funds are utilized to provide security to the people; therefore, the attentions cannot be focused on other areas. However, the facts and figures show a different picture – the security sector remains unattended as well and insecurity is rampant throughout the country.
Recently, there has been an alarming rise in security incidents in the country and even the capital Kabul is being haunted by the ghost of insecurity. A tragic incident in Kabul on Saturday killed about 15 people and wounded another 33. The attack was carried out near the Afghan defense ministry, where mostly the employees of the ministry and poor civilians were targeted. It took place few hours after an attack that was carried out in Assadabad in eastern province of Kunar, which killed 13 people including a militia commander Haji Khan Jan. 
Few analysts link the current rise in the attacks in different parts of the country and the capital Kabul to the efforts of peace talk. They suggest that Taliban insurgents want to enter the peace talks from a position of strength and they can only do so by accelerating their activities. They believe that Taliban may be able to have more of their conditions accepted in this way.
However, by doing so they may also lose the opportunity of entering the talks at all. If there is rise in attacks by Taliban, there are possibilities that Afghan government may accelerate the fight against them. President Ashraf Ghani has already mentioned that there would not be any talks with those who will continue killing the innocent people.
It is also a possibility that the rise in the attacks may be by those factions in Taliban who do not favor the talks with Afghan government. Taliban cannot be seen as a unity in the current circumstances. They are divided in different factions and those factions have different objectives and incentives. The ones who do not favor peace talks will make all the efforts to make the talks a failure.
In such a scenario, it is important that the government must be able to have a clear idea about how to continue the peace talks. It can pursue talks with those who are ready for talks but can have an aggressive attitude against those who refuse the reconciliation process. Soft stance against the ones who refuse to talk can only encourage the insurgency and violence.
The Afghan government requires taking a definite and prudent stance at this crucial juncture, where the future of the country would be decided. The people of Afghanistan want to have a peaceful and tranquil life and it is their basic right as well. It is also important for them because ultimately they pay the price of the insecurity the most.
United Nations (UN) annual report released a couple of weeks earlier depicted that the number of Afghan civilians killed and wounded passed 11,000 in 2015 - the highest number recorded since the United States-led invasion more than 14 years ago. 
The United Nations said in its report released that there were 3,545 civilian deaths and 7,457 people wounded with children paying a particularly heavy toll. The total of 11,002 civilian casualties marked a four percent rise over 2014, the previous record high, the report said. One in four casualties was a child, while one in 10 was female, it said, with Nicholas Haysom, the UN’s special representative for Afghanistan, calling the figures “unacceptable”.
“We call on those inflicting this pain on the people of Afghanistan to take concrete action to protect civilians and put a stop to the killing and maiming of civilians in 2016,” said Haysom. 
The report said “anti-government elements” were responsible for the most harm, causing 62 percent of all civilian casualties. Those killed and wounded by “pro-government forces” represented 17 percent of the record figure.
“Unprecedented numbers of children were needlessly killed and injured last year,” said Danielle Bell, the UN’s director of human rights in Afghanistan. “Other children suffered the loss of parents ... one in 10 casualties was a women.” All these figures show that government authorities must take some speedy measures to control the situation in the country. They have the responsibility of providing a secure and better life to the people and they have to fulfill that responsibility or at least strive, honestly, to fulfill it.