The killing of 21 Afghan soldiers in Ghaziabad district of Kunar province on Sunday has triggered the anger of the Afghan people against Taliban insurgents. The biggest backlash can be observed in the social media where President Hamid Karzai’s policies towards Taliban are being harshly criticized. President Karzai did not attend the memorial held for the soldiers but canceled a planned trip to Sri Lanka in response to the attack, which he condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Almost every day members of Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) die or kill while clashing directly with the insurgents and that is considered a normal part of the ongoing conflict in the country. Last year the dying rate of ANSF reached up to 100 per week. In the coming months, as the weather gets warmer, there will be more clashes between them and the Taliban and more clashes will result in more casualties.

The Kunar incident, however, is being seen from a completely different prospective. How the Taliban were successful to engineer and implement such a great raid and why the Afghan government did not take any precautionary measures despite having enough clues about the attack remain gravely unknown.

Days before the incident Baktash Siawash, a member of the parliament staged a sit-in in front of the parliamentary office building to urge President Karzai hold a meeting with families of the Afghan soldiers and police who have been killed while battling the Taliban. “It is just a request from the president to value the sacrifices our security forces are making to boost the morale of the soldiers fighting in frontline with the Taliban.” The sit-in still continues and since the Kunar incident more people have been joining it. So far there has been no response from the government.

The Afghan security forces are doing the toughest job of countering the insurgents and they are doing it with bravery, courage and determination to their motherland. Since the last summer when security responsibilities of the whole Afghanistan were transitioned to them from International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), they have been fighting the Taliban successfully. The people of Afghanistan have been the greatest supporter of their defenders. It is the core responsibility of the government to value the sacrifices of our military forces and support the families of the soldiers who are killed while defending our motherland.