If you open Youtube and search for ‘funny afghan politicians’, large number of videos appear. One of these videos is of a famous Afghan actor who does the mimicry of a large number of Afghan politicians like the President Karzai, late professor Rabbani, Gulbuddin Hikmatyar and many others. In this funny video, he narrates a funny story of how Taliban forced the people to offer the same prayers many times and at the same time, he tells about the regime of Taliban when shopkeepers left their shops open to go the mosques and no one dared to touch the money of shopkeepers that was left without any proper protection. In the same way, traders used to travel with their money without any fear of being looted on the way because all the thieves were afraid of a fact that if caught, their hands would be amputated and there would not be any kind of relaxation in this regard. Under this video, many comments were given in favor of the Taliban government.

When we come to practical life, number of people in favor of return of Taliban is also on rise and this is an alarming situation for all those who are working hard to establish a democratic system of government in Afghanistan where country should be ruled by those who win the consent and support of the majority. This perception may not be present or very less in Kabul and other big cities of the country but the more one travels inside the country, the more he discovers the differences in the perceptions of people about the present government and the government of Taliban. Mostly we try to ignore such perceptions by declaring them to be the perceptions of less literate or extra-emotional people about religion and religious organizations but when same thoughts start penetrating into the minds of literate and mature minds dwelling in urban areas, the issue cannot be left unnoticed. Governments of Afghanistan and its international allies along with their numerous think-tank organizations have long been busy in discovering and understanding the nature of emotional or sentimental attachment of Afghans with Taliban and they have found many interesting factors in this regard but most of the reasons discovered were related to the emotional and ideological patterns of people and very less was said about the role of government and its organs in this regard.

The present setup of democratic government got more than a decade to show its performance but the success of government is not much visible outside the capital city of Kabul. Many times, we, writers are alarmed by some of our readers that we should try to write considering every corner of Afghanistan and not the capital city Kabul only where electricity bought from neighboring Central Asian States make the things appear brighter. If you show a person only some parts of Kabul with high-rising buildings, well-paved roads, gleaming and latest cars, beautifully decorated shopping malls, happy and contented rich people and a busy international airport, he may immediately handover a certificate of appreciation for the present government but this limited scope of progress is also the root-cause of all the evils because when you close your eyes from a problem, the problem keeps growing; both in its size and intensity.

When we look at the ground realities prevailing in the country, the condition seems to be the worst for a common Afghan. Inflation in Afghanistan cannot be compared to any other country in the world as it is the only country where almost everything is imported and domestic production is next to nil. These imported items especially the edibles make them the most expensive in the regional markets. Their high prices are felt especially by those laborers and other low-income groups who earn in Afghanis and then buy the things from local market at the price of dollars. This paradox of earning and purchasing may not be present in any other part of the world. Anyhow, the above statement will not be much easy to be digested by those who earn handsome salaries or have vast businesses and whenever they need anything, directly go to the shop, purchase so many things and then give a hundred dollar bill which makes almost 6000 Afghanis and this amount of money is good enough to cover their one time shopping but what about those who work the whole month for just 7 to 10 thousand Afghanis and this is the reality about the local Afghan. Those who earn and present dollars don’t make even 10 percent of the whole population.

Afghanistan is also included among those countries where ratio of unemployment is very high and it is the reason why, large number of people join either National Security Forces (where you endanger your life for some legal monthly salary) or Taliban (where you are paid a bit more than the government but risks are a bit high) and large number of people also go to the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran in search of jobs. Local factories and industries are almost absent and people are too much frustrated as what to do for a living. Again the scenario can be better understood if we consider the majority public living in backward areas of the country.

Thanks to researchers that we escaped narrowly and Afghanistan was declared the second most corrupt country in the world for 2012 but some people believe that, there may not be any other country more corrupt than Afghanistan on the earth. This claim carries weight when we see the extraordinary span and depth of corruption in all the government and majority of private organizations. Bribe-acceptance, kick-backs, commissions, fake projects, recommendations and illegal practices are so flagrant that one remains surprised as how country is still functioning with all these ailments.

Energy in form of electricity, natural gas, potable water and others are only available to the privileged ones residing in Kabul or some other big cities and rest of the population seems to be unaware of the invention of these and thus never makes any demand in this regard.

With all these and many others, what difference does it make for a common Afghan if there is present a democratic government or government of Taliban? In all these facts, there seems to be no difference if there is present the government of Taliban or the elected representatives of people. Moreover, Taliban were better than the present government in one matter; there prevailed complete security and peace in the country in their regime which is not the case when dozens of neutral and innocent citizens are killed every day without knowing their fault.

The present scenario of injustice, insecurity, uncontrollable inflation and many others are slowly making the people believe that this setup is for the good of only a small minority and if they want any kind of better future, they must look for a change. Majority of people don’t like Taliban but they have also lost their hopes from the present setup and they want to get rid of this erroneous situation, no matter whoever comes. Our bad deeds are giving way to Taliban and this steaming fire will also reach to our doors one day if we failed to hear the alarming bells tolling for us in the skies.