The residents of Garmser district of Helmand province have chopped ears of a man accused of planting an IED or a roadside bomb that resulted in the deaths of civilians. The planted bomb exploded Thursday resulting in the death of two children and injury of 6 people including three other children. "This is a warning for those who kill our people every day, we won't tolerate their actions anymore," a resident of the area, Mullah Mansoor, told AFP.
It is worth mentioning that Helmand is in the list of provinces where Taliban have high influence and have been giving a tough time to NATO and Afghan security forces. At the same time Helmand is where significant amount of opium is produced every year and the ten-year efforts of Afghan government and its international backers have failed to bring about any positive change in decreasing poppy cultivation there.
Chopping off the ears of an insurgent in such an insecure province if on the hand indicates the courage of the local people, on the other establishes the fact that awareness has gone up against Taliban fighters. In fact, people have been fed-up of too much violence and have started to react.
It is public support and solidarity that can bring long term peace and stability in the country. The step taken by residents of Garmser district, though is violent to certain extent and must not be favored without reservations, shows the courage of the people. As we will move ahead Afghans will have to defend their country on their own. That would not be possible unless all the Afghan ethnic groups stop supporting the insurgents and providing them places to hide.
Afghanistan is going through a very sensitive situation. The international troops that have been supporting peace, reconstruction and development in Afghanistan are set to withdraw by 2014. Meanwhile, the Taliban are leaving no stone unturned to turn the situation towards their own goals and objectives by practicing violence and continuing to kill the innocent people of Afghanistan.
At this juncture, awareness among the people is the key to long term stability. The incident of Garmser indicates that Afghans hate violence, war and conflict and this spirit needs to be bolstered.