No doubt, currently things are going awry in Afghanistan and need to be addressed prudently, quickly and effectively. Horizons are getting closed as the people get killed in cruel acts of terrorists and the government fails to ensure security for its people and pave the way for economic development and prosperity. There is a growing ennui among the people of Afghanistan as the violence and terrorism intensify.

Just on late Wednesday, May 18, the Taliban insurgents killed 35 construction workers and wounded 24 in an attack in Zadran district of volatile southeastern province of Paktia. Thirteen other workers were still missing after the assault. This shows that the government's humble and repeated call for reconciliation with the Taliban militants and other insurgent groups is not appealing to them. In fact, it is just adding misery to the plight of ordinary Afghans who remain without protection against these not "disgruntled brothers" but the "heartless terrorists."

Despite the presence of up to 150,000 foreign troops, violence throughout the country is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government in the US led international intervention. The Taliban militants continue to target construction and development project workers. Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack in March when three suicide bombers killed 24 construction workers in Paktika, a province considered a hotbed of the insurgency.

Taliban, last month, announced the start of a long-awaited "spring offensive", vowing to carry out attacks, including suicide bombings on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials in the tenth year of an increasingly unpopular war. Even if the workers manage to build roads and other infrastructures bearing all the trials and hardships, the militants destroy the asphalted roads or the bridges that are constructed as they continue to attack schools and school children.

It shows that there is no place for construction, development and education in Taliban's line of thinking. Afghan government has failed to come forward to explain the reasons for the ongoing terrible situation and its proposed solution to it. The government, instead, stubbornly continues to whitewash the atrocities and wicked terrorist activities of the Taliban and other Al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgents by calling them as "unhappy brothers", which is becoming disgusting for Afghan people who lose their family members in the attacks carried out by these lunatics almost on a daily basis.