Taliban’s spiritual leader Mullah Muhammad Omar in his Eid ul Fitr message, as every year, has condemned civil killings, attacks on mosques, seizing of public properties and money, kidnappings and annoying civilians on highways. He has urged his fighters to prevent targeting civilian as far as possible especially during the Eid days to gain support of the Afghans by considering the Islamic values of this holy month of Ramadan. Mullah Omar’s such messages and instructions to his fighters have proved to be empty and futile as the Taliban have never followed their leader’s orders.

Last year a day before Eid ul Adha, on 5th November, the Taliban published a statement on their website, attributed to Mullah Omar calling on fighters "to take every step to protect the lives and wealth of ordinary people". The statement warned of punishments under Islamic sharia law for fighters responsible for civilian deaths. Nonetheless, the next day the Taliban attacked Eid prayers in Baghlan province, killed seven and wounded 18 people.

Mullah Omar’s Eid statement comes at times when, according to the latest UN report, the Taliban are mainly responsible for the killing of the innocent Afghan civilians in Afghanistan. The last week report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 1,145 civilians killed and 1,954 injured in the conflict between Jan. 1 and June 30. “Anti-government elements” – shorthand for the Taliban and other insurgent groups – were responsible for 882 civilian deaths and for injuring 1,593, the report said.

That proves Mullah Omar’s messages as futile and ineffective on the Taliban who fight on the ground. Mullah Omar has remained only symbolic leader of Taliban regime and all the decisions and orders for Taliban fighters seem to come from elsewhere.

The Afghans experience the worst due to Taliban insurgency. They do not feel safe while in homes, at the works and when they travel. Taliban’s IED attacks, target killings and suicide bombing result in the deaths of thousands of civilians every year. In 2011 alone, 3,300 civilians were killed in Afghanistan.

Additionally, the Taliban have severely damaged the highways used by the people of Afghanistan to travel from province to the other. Mullah Omar cannot gloss over his and his followers crimes by issuing empty and baseless statements as ground realities have done more than enough in disclosing the bleak face of Taliban regime to the Afghan populace.