The criminal activities have increased tremendously in Kabul city. Everyday a criminal incident is reported. Tire slashing is one of the most common one. The tires of targeted cars are slashed then they are followed to a specific area where security forces have loose presence. Then the vehicle is approached by thieves pretending to be taxi driver or passerby. When the drivers pull over to change the tire, they fall prey to thieves. There are several tactics that have become so common and people should be aware while hiring taxi.
According to police officials, a hundred criminal cases occurred in Kabul city just within last month most of which were murder and armed robbery. Sayyed Gul Agha Hashimi the chief anti-crime police force said that two hundred people were arrested related to criminal incidents. He added that most of the hundred registered criminal cases were murder and armed robbery. He counted the increase of population of the city and concerns over stoppage of international donations as the main reasons behind.
No doubt, big cities, particularly, in poor countries are ripe for criminal activities. In some countries, official have developed friendly relation with gangsters in order to use them for their personal interests. In many Asian countries, behind gangsters there are hands of political parties. They are refurbished, supported and even financed to grow stronger in order to create problem for rival groups on the due time.
Such an evil phenomenon certainly brings about miseries for residents as entrepreneurs and investors do not take interest to invest their money, fearing of being robbed. However, criminals in Kabul city are working as group, but generally linked to any powerful figure or any political party. In other words, security officials are also involved in some of the criminal activities like robberies. A victim who lost the plate number of his vehicle said that he found a police card from the crime scene. Later on when contacted police, he was told that he would receive the plate no of his vehicle without paying anything to robbers.
Anyhow, the key reasons behind robberies and criminal activities in the Kabul city are high unemployment rate and poverty. Billions of dollars were spent to reconstruct the country but ended up to pockets of influential figures. Thus, Afghan officials should develop closer relation with international community and neighboring countries in order to ensure that foreign support wouldn’t stop and the economy would continue to grow.