Peace remains an elusive dream in Afghanistan as a team of three armed men stormed into a mosque belonging to the minority Shia community and decided to mow down at least six civilians, injuring several others. The fact that a local elder and a three-year-old were among those wiped off the face of this earth speaks volumes about the crimes the victims may have committed that forced the regional chapter of Deash to take the necessary action and become a law unto themselves. For years, the militant organisation has been attacking religious and ethnic minorities in the name of preserving the self-contained ideals of Islam. Despite promises to uphold minority rights, little progress has been made since the Taliban takeover in 2022, leading many to believe in Kabul’s tacit support of these despicable actions. Even if it may claim to have turned a new leaf, it is incredibly hard to give up a long-established identity and the ideals that you have vehemently fought for decades. The powerful terror strike on a Sunni mosque in the seat of power – Kabul – back in 2022 should have served as a wake-up call to the authorities about the tenacity of the Salafist outfit, which does not believe in any no-go areas. Branding Shia as heretics and followers of Sufis as disbelievers, they still have a long list of targets to wipe out. But as the Afghan Taliban stand witness to a shattered community and a seemingly neverending saga of tragedy, the rest of the world appears to have had enough of the fragility of human life in this conflict-hardened country. With condemnations pouring in from all corners, other countries expect the Taliban to get their house in order and finally take some action to restore a semblance of stability and security under their watch. Has the same approach of looking the other way, which was attempted in the case of Pakistan, become their trademark policy? Despite repeated protests and reminders to uphold the Doha agreements from Islamabad, Afghanistan refuses to acknowledge the safe havens it provides to terrorist outfits including the TTP, which have turned widespread destruction and annihilation of the Pakistani state into a holy crusade. However, as the witches’ brew orchestrate acts of cruelty and barbarity, targetting innocent civilians, should it be assumed that the chickens have come home to roost? *