Daily Times

The world speculates that once the US pulls out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, the country’s political morass will sink its flailing institutions even further. One of the longest wars in recent history has been fought in Afghanistan to cut down the monster threatening world peace. But the truth is that the world has since grown more restless, gnawed at by many more monsters of the likes of al Qaeda and the Taliban. Terrorism is not going anywhere, not at least from Afghanistan, with the corollary of putting its immediate neighbours at risk, especially Pakistan. The attack in a market in Paktika province the other day and on Kabul Airport on Thursday are additions to the ever growing list of growing attacks stepped up by the Taliban. The success of each attack brings into question the credibility of the Afghan National Army, on which the country will depend for its security when the US-led NATO forces leave the country. Though the Taliban have denied being involved in the attacks, they bear their signature.

The Afghan forces officially took charge of the nation’s security last summer, and have been unable to face down the Taliban and other militant groups. This year in March, the Taliban launched three suicide attacks on government officials and foreign delegations in Kabul. In June the attack in Helmand killed several dozen civilians, soldiers and police officers. Afghanistan may have changed as many experts believe from what it had been when the US invaded it in 2001. Still we cannot consider it a state that could absorb political shocks and insurgents’ attacks without reeling. To top it all the Afghan warlords have increased their strength and influence through the US’s largesse, while the Afghan economy already is officially dependent on international aid and unofficially on the drugs trade.

The Afghan army has an annual desertion rate of 20 percent. This precarious force has so far been unable to prevent the probing attacks by the Taliban. For the last three years more than 13,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers have been killed according to Afghan government statistics. The incremental build up of terror attacks and the failure of Afghanistan to meet the challenges shows that the US too has proved just another occupying empire devoured by Afghanistan without being able to bring any real change in its society. *