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

Mounting Security Challenges

As international community is not sure of its role in Afghanistan and National Unity Government (NUG) stands without any comprehensive strategy to tackle the issue of insecurity, Afghanistan will be tested to a large extent in the times to come. The capabilities of Afghan security forces and the determination of the people of Afghanistan will also be put to test. Nevertheless, it will not be a smooth sailing for Afghanistan in war against Taliban, Daesh and other insurgents, particularly, in this spring season.

Main challenge for the forces and the government would be to control the security situation in major cities of the country, particularly, Kabul. The situation in Kabul, however, seems to be fragile particularly after the attacks on Parliament convoy, Police Headquarters and Military Hospital and the unpreparedness of the relevant authorities.

On Wednesday, April 12, there was another attack in Kabul city. As per the news reports, the attack was a suicide attack that was carried out in front of the presidential palace’s administrative affairs office, close to the PD2 headquarters and the defense ministry. The attack resulted in the death of at least five people, including two presidential palace guards. However, the officials did not confirm the death of the palace’s guards.     

With the ongoing situation in hand, there are fears among the people in Afghanistan that their lives would once again be influenced badly by the wave of terrorism and insurgency. After the downfall of Taliban, Afghan people had hoped that their lives would change and the circumstances would lead towards a better and peaceful future, but the last few years have pointed towards worsening security situation. The year 2016 proved to be the most deadly for Afghan civilians; particularly, for women and children. And, as Taliban and Daesh insurgents have spread over many provinces in the country now, there are no good expectations for the ongoing year as well, unless there is a major breakthrough in peace talks with Taliban and a policy shift in the government corridors regarding the issue of insecurity. 

As far as the capability of Afghan forces to tackle the security situation in the country is concerned, there are some evident grey areas, which require immediate improvement and the international community should play a key role to ensure that training and capacity building sessions must start immediately so that Afghan forces are in a better position to face the security challenges this year.

There is no doubt in the fact that Afghan security forces have given some great sacrifices; however, the important thing is that their sacrifices should bear some fruit and Afghanistan should see the sun of peace and tranquility dawn quickly. But, that does not seem to be near as the rise in insecurity seems to be consistent and it has been taking the lives of numerous people.

The suicide bombs and the assaults by insurgents that try to target the security officials, in some way or the other, target the civilians as well. In certain cases, they even target the civilians directly. This has made the life miserable for the people in Afghanistan.

The response of the government in the face of the rising insecurity is really lethargic. It has been largely influenced by the differences that prevail within the ranks of the government regarding the approach that has to be adopted against the situation. The members of NUG see the issue with different perspectives and are not ready to cooperate with each other in designing a comprehensive and unanimous policy to tackle the situation. This has led to misunderstandings and ambiguities in the war against terrorism on operational level as well.

Afghan government, therefore, has to get united and strive to control the situation properly. It needs to understand that as a result of decades of instability and socio-economic and political problems, the Afghan people have been suffering from myriads of problems. Apart from the issue of insecurity, there are some very concerning issues that exist in our society and threaten the lives of the common people of Afghanistan.

There are claims by the government officials that changes have been brought within Afghan society; however, it should be noted that if the effectiveness of the changes have to be felt or observed, they should be observed by the changes in the lives of the common people. If there is any change in the condition of living of the common people as the outcome of the change; the change should be guarded for and even backed and supported vehemently. If not, either the claim must be discarded as wrong or the efforts should be improved to make the changes effective. And that is what Afghanistan needs to do – it has to improve its efforts to bring about necessary changes in the lives of the common people that have been jeopardized both by insecurity and lack of rudimentary requirements of life. 

Afghan government must therefore get serious in tackling with the issue of the insecurity and at the same time strive to provide at least the rudimentary requirements of life to people as they can also play a tremendous role in fighting against the insurgents. If the people are sure that the present government can strive honestly to provide them their necessities they will definitely join hands together along with the security forces to fight terrorists and terrorism successfully.