Daily Times

The conduct of the Afghan armed forces with Afghan people is also a matter of great concern. At times, people have experienced atrocities even at the hands of Afghan security forces, and have been heard opining that “Taliban were better than Afghan forces as at least they would respect our homes, women and children”. Unfortunate part of the human suffering in Afghanistan either at the hands of Afghan Taliban or the Afghan security forces is the lukewarm response by international community and the so-called free world to this ruthless killing spree.

Media and human rights organizations and even the Pashtun leadership of Afghanistan are either silent on the killings of Pashtun brethren or down playing it as a collateral damage in Afghanistan. Role of international and other regional media organizations also needs a careful view. Even the social media supporters of Pashtuns as well as the liberals stood quiet on Kunduz tragedy and many other brutal attacks in which scores of innocent civilians were killed in Afghanistan.

Afghan resent the atrocities committed against them by any entity. In case of indiscriminate bombings by Afghan forces and their allies, the common people would naturally look towards Afghan Taliban to avenge those. In fact these kind of incidents in which a fake rationale is presented about the presence of Afghan Taliban in madaris or other places are multiplying the support of Afghan Taliban at the grassroots level.

Experts are of the view that ‘saner’ people in Afghanistan need to advise the Afghan as well as US leadership to be mindful of losing to the Taliban in the so-called war for hearts and minds. Events of bomb explosions or any other subversive activities against the innocent civilians provide a unique moral boost to the Afghan Taliban. Resultantly, they benefit heavily in terms of recruitment and sympathies. These sympathies sometimes result in switching sides even by Afghan soldiers, as witnessed during the ‘Green on Blue’ and ‘Green on Green’ attacks, resulting in huge losses to the Afghan and foreign forces.

There is another dark dimension of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan which can be exploited by the adversaries to spoil the ongoing Afghan peace process. Besides security, the political instability in Afghanistan is also said to be the direct result of some unvoiced troubles in the unity government. President Ghani lacks much-needed political will to put his own house in order. Political compromises even with his allies have crippled the performance of the Kabul government. President Ghani and any other future government in Afghanistan will have to realize that creating problems for Pakistan will not alleviate their internal challenges, as the solutions have to come from within.

Published in Daily Times, January 23^rd 2019.