The spokesman for Ministry of Interior, Zmaray Bashari has said that 83 civilians were killed and 260 others wounded as a result of 440 incidents of violence during last month. According to Bashari, the rise in civilian deaths stem from surge in attacks carried out by the Taliban militants and other insurgent groups. The statement about the number of increasing loss of ordinary Afghans comes at the time when according to the United Nations, 2,700 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2010, showing an increase of about 15 percent over 2009.

In the meanwhile, the militants and hard-line insurgents have increased their attacks on government officials, tribal elders and those who work with national and international organizations. On Sunday, April 24, 2011, the insurgents gunned down a member of peace council in southern province of Helmand, one of the main hotbeds of terrorists and militants and the largest poppy producing province. This slain member of Helmand Peace Council, Haji Zahir, had also served as Marja district chief. He was appointed to this position last year when the Taliban were ousted from the district as a result of a massive operation.

The increase in terrorist activities and insurgent attacks has given rise to concerns among Afghan people about the direction of the country. They are coming to believe that after a decade of international presence in Afghanistan, the country is on a wrong track and there appears to be no security and peace in sight. All these happen while the international community has adopted a hasty plan to begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in July this year. They must postpone this timetable for the drawdown until there is a real considerable turnaround in terms of security restoration.

Foreign forces are also suffering from glaring casualties as the tally shows that since the beginning of 2011, 140 foreign soldiers been killed by the insurgents. In 2010, the deadliest year for NATO-led troops, 714 ISAF service members were killed in the country. It shows that everyone is bleeding. It is really embarrassing to leave the country while you are bleeding and Afghanistan is bleeding. Instead, there is a great and urgent need for a revived focus on cracking down on the militants.