The recent spate of suicide bombings has left Afghan nation at the mercy of escalated insurgency. The Wednesday and Saturday’s heavy offensives in Kabul spread a strong sense of fear and disappointment in the air and triggered hatred against the hands engineering the attacks behind the scene. Shedding streams of blood in the sacred month of Ramadan have outraged public conscience.
The heart-wrenching stories as a result of the terrorists’ sinister deeds fill one with an outpouring of grief. The heart of stone will melt with the blood oozing from sliced throats and amputated arms and legs. Men, women and children are butchered without an iota of mercy.
This year Afghanistan has sustained large casualties up to now and higher than the last year’s current period. The responsibility for the two recent terrorist attacks have been denied by the Taliban. According to an official privy to the issue, Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba  have carried out the attacks and will orchestrate more.
The tension between Kabul and Islamabad will predictably resurface following the attacks carried out by terrorists who enjoy safe havens in Pakistan.
The recent attacks came as Afghanistan, Pakistan and China held the first round of trilateral Practical Cooperation Dialogue (PCD) in Beijing. Meanwhile, Kabul will host an international conference on June 06, 2017 regarding the political instability and terrorist issue.
Holding the trilateral PCD, the Afghan-Pak relation seemed to recover but it did not last for a week. So, it will be the end of PCD.
According to a Pakistani Media, Dan Coats, who, as National Intelligence director, and also leads a team of more than a dozen spy agencies, including the CIA and FBI claimed that Islamabad had failed to curb militants and terrorists in Pakistan and because of this failure, “these groups will present a sustained threat to the US interests in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan”.
The issue of terrorism has turned highly serious since Kabul came under severe attacks. Rumors say that Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba will continue their deadly attacks in Kabul, which is likely to be in their agenda. Based on a source, the two terrorist networks decided to carry out attacks through exploding vehicles in crowded areas, which is against the rule of war, religious tenets and ethical code. Director Coats told the US Senate committee that despite increased military efforts to defeat them, the Taliban militants had and would continue to make gains, especially in rural areas.
Little wonder, there is no bona fide intention for peace talks and warring factions have intensified their attacks despite Afghanistan’s constant calls for peace. It is hoped that in the upcoming conference, the participants discuss and come with an effective strategy for combating terrorism rather than reconciliation process, which has never come to fruition. A global campaign against the terrorists’ safe havens will be a right strategy.
Afghan analysts and officials say that paying lip service to counterinsurgency by Pakistan will not be acceptable. To build trust, Islamabad will have to prove its sincerity by action not empty talks. For instance, warring factions have their sanctuaries and seminaries in Pakistani soil and, according to public belief, orchestrate their deadly attacks against Afghan nation from across the border. The demise of Mullah Omar in Karachi in April 2013, the death of his successor Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Baluchistan on May 21, 2016 and al-Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 bespeak of the terrorists’ sanctuaries across the border. A bilateral counterinsurgency attacks against all terrorist networks will mitigate insurgency both in Afghanistan and Pakistan and recover the mutual trust.
Spilling the blood of civilians – be it in Afghanistan or any other parts of the world – is highly outrageous. Non-combatants should be able to exercise their rights and liberty without a sense of fear or threat. They have nothing to do with war and their lives must be respected. To put it succinctly, killing civilians will never ensure paradise for the murderers.
More importantly, Afghan nation will have to maintain their unity in such a sensitive condition. One of the objectives of the warring parties is believed to be stoking sectarianism in the public air.
For example, the ISIL fighters murdered ethnic minority groups and attacked mourning proceedings with the aim of triggering sectarian violence.
Similarly, widening the gap between state and nation will be the next objectives of the militants. The public are not supposed to succumb to the surge of their emotion. Chanting slogan against officials will not only not alleviate the challenges but also compound the tension. Afghan nation must not fall for their plots.
Afghans payed large sacrifices with the hope of breathing a sigh of relief in a peaceful society.
However, the bleeding and tragic incidents have never come to an end. Life remains cheap. In brief, our national responsibility in this critical time is maintaining the spirit of brotherhood.
The government’s responsibility is to find out a significant strategy for combating terrorism along with neighboring countries and its international allies in the upcoming international conference.