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

President Karzai’s Continued Disregard of Afghans’ Suffering

Afghanistan is going through a growing political divide and disunity. The challenge it poses is even more treacherous than the one presented by the cruel insurgency. This increasing fragmentation comes from authoritarian decision-making process in the government, which is in turn down to an extremely centralized power structure in Afghanistan.

This also emanates from the unjustified appeasement policy of President Hamid Karzai towards Taliban and other insurgent groups that continue to kill and injure people, and disrupt their lives. People do not understand the rationale behind president Karzai's special respect for the Taliban when they see that the Taliban continue to commit atrocity and cause terror in the cities and villages of Afghanistan alike.

In fact, president Karzai continues to betray Afghan people who continue to suffer in the atrocious hands of lunatic fringes named Taliban by vowing not to give up calling them as his brothers. Afghan people expect the president to be sympathetic to them and fight against their enemies to bring an end to their suffering.

But contrary to this public expectation, president Karzai's avowal of continuing his lax approach to dealing with the Taliban is a surprise to the people and they are looking for other political groups that could be sympathetic to them and work to decrease their woe.

Afghan people are running out of patience with regard to president Karzai's disrespect to their suffering in the brutal hands of insurgents and militants that continue to serve their regional bosses.

Nowhere in the world we can find a president or head of a government or state that calls the active enemies of their people as brothers. When American people were attacked on 9/11, the then US president swore to punish the perpetrators by hook or crook. By eliminating Osama Bin Laden in May 2011, the US politicians and military officials finally fulfilled this pledge and proudly shared the joy of their glorious triumph with their people and families of 9/11 victims.

But president Karzai is different. Last week, Kabul was shaken by coordinated assaults carried out by the Taliban, which led to killing and injuring of many innocent Afghans. But next day, president Karzai in an utter disregard to their blood once again called those heartless and callous militants as his brothers.

Unfortunately, over the last ten years, international community's sole effort has been to keep Mr. Karzai happy even when he showed no hesitation to say to the international community that he would join the Taliban if he continued to be urged to fight corruption and improve service delivery to Afghan people.

People are now coming together to begin to defend themselves against the Taliban as well as president Karzai's possible handover of power to his "brothers"- the Taliban. That is why we now see that National Front of Afghanistan- representing different ethnic groups of our country- has become a strong voice of Afghan people against unjust and Taliban-oriented policy of president Karzai and his ethno-centrist team and circles around him.