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

Will the New Security Pact Improve the Social Disorders in Afghanistan?

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Will the New Security Pact Improve the  Social Disorders in Afghanistan?

The social insecurity problem has extremely made the citizens unsatisfied whereas no security institutions have been able to control it so far. Without doubt, nowhere in the world can tolerate this level of social disorders and crimes, but in Afghanistan, everyone accustomed to years of corruption, drug trafficking, irresponsibility and insecurity combined with absolute poverty. In public opinion, the current social disorders which link to political disorders are not only the outcome of government’s inability but also due to lack of factual supports by regional and international partners. The people of Afghanistan have repeated heard that the government has not enough freedom in spending the international aids and so it produces no effective outcome in the country. In the other word, the current crisis shows that neither the current government institutions and nor the foreign supporters have been successful in performing their commitments and responsibilities in the country.
Although the abovementioned criticism is not entirely true about the first decade of new political system as in that time the new political system of Afghanistan could hold more transparent elections and the Unite Nation Mission in Afghanistan wholeheartedly supported the post Taliban government. Therefore, the people of Afghanistan and House of Representatives have unanimously voted for strategic agreement between the US and Afghanistan. On the whole, growing Insecurity, poverty, refugee problems, administrative corruption and etc are extremely worrying and alarming. There is no doubt the continuation of this situation will further tarnish the image of security institutions and international supports. Even now, many citizens do not consider security agencies, especially the police, as guardians of their lives and property. This is because the police have so far failed to provide social security for the people, and the citizens have little hope for the security institutions to curb social crimes.
Anyway, the new Security Pact of government, as it termed as the biggest security program, has created some optimism hoping originated from a sense of responsibility and seriousness. It is high time to expect the security officials to work harder so as to implement this plan and not to tolerate the social crimes and corruptions anymore. If the leadership of security institutions has firm will against the criminals, undoubtedly the brave security forces can eliminate them from the cities and country. The criminals and robbers are not equipped with atomic bomb or modern weapons that police are not able to control them. If we complain that the terrorists are supported by neighboring countries, but it may not be true for criminal cases. Logically, there must be some causes behind every effect or phenomena. In regard to social crimes, there seems no cause behind the social crimes except lawlessness, corruption and also poverty which needs poverty reduction plan as a part of strategy. 
As abovementioned, the government new security pact is a good step towards fighting against corruption and social disorders but there are some concerns about this plan. In fact, there are three main concerns about the government plan. First, people stress that the plan should not be just slogan and it must be implemented in practice. Usually, the ministries and security institutions make plans to escape from the pressure of government leadership or public opinion but in practice it is rarely implemented. The second concern is about selective dealing with perpetrators of crime, disturbers of social order, and perpetrators of corruption. Thus, we will not be successful against corruption and social crimes with capture of few individuals. Any security plan must be systematic and in fact, the government   structure must deal with criminals and perpetrators of corruption, not only individuals.
Another concern is lack of a strong secret police foundation to launch secret monitoring to ensure that the police themselves are not changed to means of crimes and corruptions. Unfortunately, this perception is not far-fetched due to poor structural supervision and organized corruption. There are many examples for this concern in the country. For example, the municipal special police force set up to combat urban irregularities had itself become a major cause of extortion and corruption, which was eventually disbanded.
In addition, the voluntary cooperation of citizens with security institutions is also important. As another name for this plan is the joint security program of the government and the people but in the past, the corruption and complicity of some police officers with criminals has seriously damaged people’s trust. In terms of social capital discourse, there is a direct relationship between trust and confidence. Therefore, there is no guarantee for cooperation as long as citizens do not trust the police and security agencies. The cause of distrust is the poor performance police and corruption in the security institutions. There will be no cooperation between police and people unless the people have no trust on police and security institutions. Therefore, gaining the trust of the people is not an easy task unless the leadership of the security agencies prove their commitment and honest to people.
The last problem is the reactionary feature of most plans in Afghanistan. Without doubt, the reactionary or just penalizing strategy is important but not enough. The level of social disorder in Afghanistan, especially in large cities needs to a compressive strategy including reactive and preventive programs. It means the imprisonment of hungry people who are struggling for survival maybe not effective and so we need to unemployment reduction plan to mitigate the issues in longer run.  Last year, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs promised to solve or reduce the unemployment problem through sending labors out of Afghanistan, yet it has not been implemented. According to the plan, it was supposed to send ten thousand workers to Qatar but no one knows why it has not happened so far.

Mohammad Zahir Akbari is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at mohammadzahirakbari@gmail.com

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