In a brutal attack in Kabul, three gunmen attacked Sardar Daud Khan Hospital Wednesday morning, after their co-fighter detonated explosives at the entrance gate. The attackers entered the hospital and targeted the patients (mostly wounded Afghan army soldiers) and the hospital staff members. They were armed with AK-47’s, grenades and suicide vests and stood against the Crisis Response Unit (CRU) and Commando Forces for hours. As per the sources in the Ministry of Defense, 30 people were killed while more than 70 others were wounded as a result of the attack. The attack was really inhuman and shows the true face of the insurgency that is haunting Afghanistan at the moment. It is important to note that the attack was claimed by Daesh that is turning out to be a major security challenge for Afghanistan after Taliban.

Insecurity is going to be a major challenge for Afghan government and security forces this year. As spring season is going to start, Taliban and other insurgents are more likely to increase their activities. There are fears among the people in Afghanistan that their lives would once again be influenced badly by the wave of terrorism and insurgency. After the downfall of Taliban, Afghan people had hoped that their lives would change and the circumstances would lead towards a better and peaceful future, but the last few years have pointed towards worsening security situation. The year 2016 proved to be the most deadly for Afghan civilians; particularly, for women and children. And, as Taliban and Daesh insurgents have spread over many provinces in the country now, there are no good expectations for the ongoing year as well, unless there is a major breakthrough in peace talks with Taliban and a policy shift in the government corridors regarding the issue of insecurity. 

As far as the capability of Afghan forces to tackle the security situation in the country is concerned, there are some evident grey areas, which require immediate improvement and the international community should play a key role to ensure that training and capacity building sessions must start immediately so that Afghan forces are in a better position to face the security challenges this year. There is no doubt in the fact that Afghan security forces have given some great sacrifices; however, the important thing is that their sacrifices should bear some fruit and Afghanistan should see the sun of peace and tranquility dawn quickly. But, that does not seem to be near as the rise in insecurity seems to be consistent and it has been taking the lives of numerous people. The suicide bombs and the assaults by insurgents that try to target the security officials, in some way or the other, target the civilians as well. In certain cases, they even target the civilians directly. This has made the life miserable for the people in Afghanistan.

The response of the government in the face of the rising insecurity is really lethargic. It has been largely influenced by the differences that prevail within the ranks of National Unity Government (NUG) regarding the approach that has to be adopted against the situation. The members of NUG see the issue with different perspectives and are not ready to cooperate with each other in designing a comprehensive and unanimous policy to tackle the situation. This has led to misunderstandings and ambiguities in the war against terrorism on operational level as well.

Afghan government, therefore, has to get united and strive to control the situation properly. It needs to understand that as a result of decades of instability and socio-economic and political problems, the Afghan people have been suffering from myriads of problems. Apart from the issue of insecurity, there are some very concerning issues that exist in our society and threaten the lives of the common people of Afghanistan.

There are claims by the government officials that changes have been brought within Afghan society; however, it should be noted that if the effectiveness of the changes have to be felt or observed, they should be observed by the changes in the lives of the common people. If there is any change in the condition of living of the common people as the outcome of the change; the change should be guarded for and even backed and supported vehemently. If not, either the claim must be discarded as wrong or the efforts should be improved to make the changes effective. And that is what Afghanistan needs to do – it has to improve its efforts to bring about necessary changes in the lives of the common people that have been jeopardized both by insecurity and lack of rudimentary requirements of life.  

Afghan government must therefore get serious in tackling with the issue of the insecurity and at the same time strive to provide at least the rudimentary requirements of life to people as they can also play a tremendous role in fighting against the insurgents. If the people are sure that the present government can strive honestly to provide them their necessities they will definitely join hands together along with the security forces to fight terrorists and terrorism successfully.