After the successive attacks in west of Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani has ordered Kabul’s division into four security zones and the west of Kabul will be changed into security Green Zone. Holding a meeting to the representatives of Dashte Barchi, he announced his new security scheme and stressed that the current war is against our people and our constitution. “The measures in this area are not enough and I have directed that Kabul be divided into four security zones, including West of Kabul, and that now the Security Coordination Center is active in western Kabul and will become a core security center in the future,” Ghani said. He also said that a Joint Security and People’s Committees will be formed on the basis of the people’s suggestion, and a clear monitoring and reporting mechanism will be created for the Supreme Headquarters.
During the meeting he also welcomed the security measures prepared for Muḥarram and martyr’s week by the Kabul Garrison chief General Murad Ali Murad; “Good progress has been made in coordination with the civilian institutions, according to the clear guidance of the President on securing the West of Kabul, the martyr’s week and ceremonies of Muharram,” Murad said. According to Murad no one is allowed to disturb security.  In addition, some heads of security and intelligence departments for Kabul city have dismissed due to failure to control the recent incident; commander of Kabul police, commander of 111 army division in Kabul and also head of NDS for Kabul are among those dismissed. Such changes will happen in other parts as well,” Najib Danish, spokesman for the interior ministry said.
Earlier the residents of Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi had called on government to hand over the security responsibility of the area to the people. They argued that they can ensure their safety better than government forces. Ghani, referring to the suggestions of people on the distribution of temporary weapons in the mosques, directed the relevant authorities to examine the practical ways of this request comprehensively and to take a supervisory approach to the mosque’s guardians in order to prevent disturbance of security.  But later the suggestion rejected by Nusrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for Ministry of Interior. “It is impossible that people say the ordinary people should be given weapons.” if they have any comprehensive plan for safeguarding people’s lives, they should share it with the security department,” he said.
As aforementioned, the changes are happening after the repeated deadly attacks targeted civilian in the west of Kabul and spread a wave of fear and harsh criticism among the people. In the latest attack, at least 26 civilians, including several sportsmen and two journalists, were killed and 95 others wounded after a suicide bomb blast targeted a sports gym in Dasht-i-Barchi west of Kabul on Wednesday evening. According to a Pajhwok Afghan News report, around 18,000 people have suffered casualties in the first eight months of the current year compared to 17,000 last year in the same period across the country.
Most of the people including security analysts are not optimistic about the changes; the former chief of the National Directorate of Security Amrullah Saleh, believe that dividing the capital into security zones will not result in better security. Saleh said the only way to keep the country, especially the capital secure, is to work with the security forces and for government to gain the people’s trust. “People should be put at the center, as they always have said. Putting people at the center means that they ask the people who the enemy is and where the gaps are,” said Saleh.
Thus, a number of Wolesi Jirga or lower house members in their first session, after summer vacation, expressed concerns over insecurity in the country and ‘fraud in the election process’ asking the government to take decisive action for dealing with them. They have also called for summoning security officials for accountability, saying security forces do not have the capability to provide the security of people. The lawmakers accused security officials of incompetence and emphasized that more than 40 thousand people were killed or wounded since the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG). “Government is responsible for every drop of the people’s blood. The government should respond why they cannot provide the security of people?” Ghulam Hussain Naseri, representative of Maidan Wardak said.
The representative of Kandahar, Muhammad Naeem Lalay Hamid Zai also said, “The agenda should be on security. At least twelve terrorist attacks were carried out just in one specific area of Kabul.” In the meantime, MPs called for disqualifying the security officials after summoning them to Parliament. “The National Unity Government fails to provide security. This government has become a cancer for the people. The security officials should be disqualified without any question and declaration,” MP Abdul Rahim Ayoubi asserted.
Jafar Mahdawi, representative of Kabul also warned that the people would take their security themselves if the government cannot provide the security.  he said, “In the past, we were witnessing one massacre incident in the west of Kabul, but now we see it every week, people are disappointed due to the weakness of Afghan forces,” Around 200 people killed or wounded in suicide attacks and car bombing, that targeted an educational center and a sports club in Dasht-I-Barchi area of Kabul on August 15 and September 5. Finally, Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, the chairman of the Parliament said, “We demand the Parliament’s security commission to summon the security officials to report about the recent bloody incidents that the lawmakers can decide over them,”