There is a famous verse of world-renowned Persian poet, Iqbal Lahori, which means, ‘I don’t fear that caravan is being looted by the bandits but I am scared of the fact that people in caravan no more seem concerned about their loss and they are getting accustomed to it’. With the exception of a few, the citizens of Afghanistan seem to have lost their sensitivity about the grave challenges faced by the country and how grim the future of country appears to be.

But there is present a small minority which includes of those whose education, sensitive hearts, decades long experience and natural patriotism towards the country fill their hearts with pain when they see the actual condition of the country. In these lines, I have repeatedly emphasized on the importance of being optimistic about the future of our country and keep in mind the positive things but at times, having a look at the graveness of problems and heedless attitude of our fellow citizens towards these problems makes me sad and disappointed. It looks as if there are no problems in the country or these problems have nothing to do with them. It was also stated that we cannot expect a country to recover in single decade from the loss and destruction of more than three decades and that single decade of recovery was also not much secure and productive, as it was expected to be.

The existence and prosperity of a nation depends on a number of factors and unfortunately, when we analyze and assess the situation of our country with the said factors, we really get disappointed. Our economy can be considered one of the most immature economies. Millions of dollars are spent every month to purchase the things from other countries of the world. At the same time, we have almost no industries or domestic production of our own and this fact depicts a reality that we cannot provide any jobs to the labor in the country and due to this reason, unemployment is staggering with an uncontrollable pace. This unemployment later on gives birth to numerous other problems. Our tax collection has just exceeded $2 billion which is not sufficient to meet the needs of the country and we depend on International community for meeting our civil and military expenses. It is also a reality that insecurity has greatly disturbed all the business activities. Corruption, nepotism and inflexible business regulations make Afghanistan one of the most difficult countries of the world to start and run a business.

After this, our second most grave problem comes in form of terrorism and militancy. Even after the establishment of a democratic government, our Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and international troops have failed to weed out terrorist elements and thousands of security personnel and citizens lose their lives on the hand of terror attacks. Increasing use of weapons and utilization of private army by the warlords and tribal elders add to the severity of the situation. Disorders in security and lapses in law and order have made the foreign investors flee the country and majority of the citizens feel themselves insecure.

Educational sector is also faltering on many grounds like inadequate facilities, less qualified and trained teachers, utilization of obsolete and unproductive methods and lack of latest books. Number of public universities is very limited and not enough to meet the needs of students and there are present grave concerns about the standard of large number of private universities in which hardly any meet the international standards. It is the reason why, our youth who are graduating from the universities, don’t have enough academic competence to enter the professional life confidently. At the same time, this system of education is not producing well-skilled and confident young men and women rather those who are in dire need of direction and guidance to enter the professional life.

Last year, Afghanistan was the second most corrupt country of the world and the ground situation appears rather worse than that. According to informed sources, our parliament is the worst place of corruption where majority of the parliamentarians take any step when their personal benefits are included in it. Starting from the judiciary, to the security institutions and to rest of the government or private organizations, bribery, nepotism, recommendations, and other dirty forms of corruption are rampant and they have all deprived the nation of the benefits of international aid that kept flowing for the reconstruction of the country.

As a whole, our society appears to be divided on different layers. There is present huge difference between the rich and poor. Majority of the population is poor and strive hard to earn their daily bread. On the other hand, there is also present a small elite class who ride the most expensive vehicles of the world, wear imported dresses, dine in the best restaurants and reside in the castle-like villas and houses. This lifestyle is really painful for a country where hundreds and thousands never get enough to eat.

Similarly, society is also divided on the basis of ethnicities and religious sects. At present, these differences don’t appear to be much evident but having a look at the carelessness of people and especially politicians, these differences may grow deep with the passage of time and jeopardize the overall solidarity and unity of the country.

Along with these, there is a long list of difficulties and sensitive minds are really in pain with the realization of these sad realities. At the same time, there are also present a large number of people who have got disappointed and decided to quit. They have moved their businesses and families to other countries and are vigilantly observing the situation as if ready to run.

In the same way, the fear of 2014 has also crippled the minds and feelings of many and they seem to have lost all their hopes from the future of the country. You might have also observed that wherever people sit and talk about the present and future of the country, they talk about negative aspects and fill the air with disappointment. But it should not be forgotten that, by running away, the conditions would never change and they would even get worse. In the same way, no kind of heavenly help will come to rescue us.

Having a look at the repetition of these ideas, an idea of a scholar really impressed me who said, ‘Being a Muslim, we believe that everything is in the hands of Allah and then comes a time when we should say that, ‘We accept whatever the Allah had destined to us. We should try our best and leave the result on Allah’, and one is greatly relieved when he realizes this. It is such a unique idea that relieves us of all the fears and fills our heart with hope for a better future.’

Having a look at the nature of all the different problems, we discover that only solution lies in imparting quality education to our youth so that we should be able to bring up a competent, sensitive, honest and well-educated generation that should be able to change the fate of the nation.

Almost all the Afghans are in dire need of such a hopeful message because a nation without hope would lose both its present and future.