Though the situation in the country is deteriorating badly and this is a matter of concern to all the Afghans, living inside or outside the country, but the number of points that need to be clarified are also increasing. Situation of Kunduz is still not much clear and there are differences in what government claims, media shows, social networking sites depict and people describe. For a week or ten days, our only source of information was media and we had to accept each and everything without any question but now, so many people have come to Kabul and other cities of the country and many of them have brought their stories with them. These stories and statements of people are in some cases much different from what it was showed on the media and what the government had been claiming. I would like to share some of the statements of people whom I met personally and who used to live in Kunduz but the clash between Taliban and government forces compelled them to leave their houses and search for a safer place to their families.
The conflict between Taliban and our security forces in Kunduz continued for many days and from both the sides, light and heavy guns and ammunition were used. It is quite understandable for our security forces as they have a coordinated network of supplies but the question arises as from where Taliban were getting such uninterrupted and massive supply of ammunition. One person said that in three days when Taliban controlled the city, they noticed that every evening, Taliban forced the people to go inside their houses and then warplanes used to drop boxes of bullets and ammunition for them. He himself heard the big and shrill sound of the boxes landing. Unfortunately, he was not the only person to hear this; many others were ready to testify his statement.
Similarly, the conflict of almost two weeks brought heavy casualties for Taliban. Our security forces killed hundreds of them and many more were injured. However, nobody has seen any wounded member of Taliban getting treatment in any hospital of nearby cities or towns. It is also not possible for them to transfer their injured comrades to any of the Central Asian countries or let them die without any treatment. Now, I leave it to readers to solve this puzzle as where these injured Taliban would have been transported and why not they were stopped on the way when they were being transported in such large numbers.
Right from the beginning, Taliban are always well supplied. They have enough money to buy food, clothing, motorbikes, cars and they pay handsome salaries to all the members. Many writers and political analysts have been urging the government to cut their supply lines. Once they stop receiving funds and other supplies from inside or outside the country, they will not be able to survive for long. However, these advices were never taken seriously and now a lot of water has passed under the bridge. In the incident of Kunduz, Ghazni and others, it is another question mark that Taliban are given such huge sums of money, necessary equipments and other items but our security forces either don’t know about this activity or they are not allowed to do anything to stop it.
Kunduz also fell to Taliban in doubtful situations. Hundreds of Taliban had already entered the city in disguise before the actual attack and our forces were not able to recognize and catch even one of them. At the night of attack, large numbers of our troops were deployed in the city but they left the city without any resistance against Taliban and the city was presented to them like a gift. This situation leaves behind many questions as why this was done and if our own people had hand in this arrangement.
There reports were also in the media that many times, the dangerous terrorists captured by our security forces were taken into custody by American forces. Later on, same terrorists were captured again or killed in the battlefield, resulting in the great shock and disappointment for our security forces. In the same way, government (especially of Mr. Karzai) released large number of dangerous Taliban on the name of reconciliation process. These facts are not simple to be digested easily by common Afghans.
In Kunduz and some other incidents in Badakhshan as well, some of generals gave extremely doubtful and wrong orders to the soldiers on the field. These decisions or orders in fact helped Taliban on many occasions. This is also a question mark as why these generals have not been questioned and if they are involved in the whole process.
After Kunduz fell into the hands of Taliban, more than 200 brave soldiers of our army kept fighting hundreds of Taliban militants to protect the strategically important fort of Balahisar. These soldiers fought for three days and continuously requested for reinforcement as they were getting out of ammunition. However, they were not given any help and in the end, they had to surrender to Taliban. Later on, Afghan commandoes were able to retake the control of this fort in no time. The question is why not these soldiers were helped and left on the mercy of Taliban.
Similarly, eyewitnesses verify that security forces left behind hundreds of police and army vehicles and armored trucks, which were later on captured by Taliban, and now Taliban are using them against our forces. If security forces can escape on foot, it makes no sense to leave behind their vehicles and armored trucks.
People are also unhappy of the heedless bombing and shelling of our security forces in Kunduz. According to them, Taliban were hiding in houses and bombshells were landing in houses, killing many innocent citizens. People say that they were more harmed by government shelling instead of Taliban’s atrocities.
These questions are not limited to Kunduz only but to all the places where different anti-state groups like Taliban, Daesh and others are fighting.
It all shows that there is a plan and everyone is involved in it, and the problem is from inside the house.