Wajid Khan
The overall peace in Afghanistan is deteriorating day by day, due to constant failures of Afghan security forces and increased subversive activities of Taliban in Afghanistan. Recently, a US report, regarding the increased Taliban activities and the consequent casualties of Afghan forces has been published, which depicts greue some scenario for Afghanistan’s future. The quoted report is prepared by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).The said report elaborated that at least 5,523 members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) lost their lives in the first eight months of the year 2016. According to SIGAR, the Afghan forces suffered a total of 15,000 casualties during the period which includes 5,523 fatalities. The report further added that the Afghan government lost 2.2 percent territorial control during this year’s fighting. Besides, “Of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, 258 districts were under government control or influence, 33 districts were under insurgent control or influence, and 116 districts were “contested,”. SIGAR report elaborated that at least 257 Afghan security personnel lost their lives in insider attacks and at least 125 others were wounded in such attacks.
Now looking at the casualties, it implies that Taliban are very consistent in their pursuit of evicting the foreign forces from Afghanistan. Experts opine that the rise of Taliban in the country’s North is not surprising. Many areas had gone into their control, more than two years ago, there were reports of heavy deployment, and increasing influence of Taliban in the Northern region but the Afghan government and Afghan security forces never took this threat seriously. Now, the situation seems to be turning like that of Iraq. No one is sure that how much international community is concerned about the grave fact that country is once again going to fall into the hands of militants and non-democratic powers but it is a matter of grave concern for every Afghan. They just want a sigh of relief from decades of war, refuge and poverty and were hopeful of the future of country but once again, the country seems to be falling apart and slipping into the hands of militants.
Taliban are getting help from local people, who are joining them in the name of Jihad and day by day, more and more areas are falling under the control of Taliban but internally, there are so many other factors for such bondage and help from the local Afghans. In this situation, the role of government, international powers present in Afghanistan, top brass of military and intelligence, some parliamentarians or tribal chiefs and all other stakeholders has become questionable. In the same way, things are not as simple as they appear. History shows that people of this area (northern area) never supported Taliban or any other group and they were always supporters of government and democracy. On the other hand, due to the negative exploitation of Jihad, majority of people in the area are allergic to this term and they would not only avoid joining any such movement in the name of Jihad but they would try to stop others. Experts believe that there is a misconception that Afghans are joining Taliban in the name of Jihad or supporting them physically or morally. According to local Afghans, a large number of people are joining Taliban due to unemployment. Until 2014, when international powers and thousands of NGOs and aid agencies were functional in the country, there were plenty of job opportunities for everyone. People got jobs, businesses prospered and economy grew but starting from the beginning of 2014, international NGOs, and businesses slowly started wrapping up their operations in the country and by the end of 2014, less than 5% of them were left behind. Due to this, large number of people became jobless, international donations stopped flowing into the country and there was a general panic. This badly affected the rural areas where people did not have much to do and families were run by those who were working in big cities. Hopes were pinned with the new government but until now, it has not come up according to the expectations and the situation is getting worse with every passing day. The rate of unemployment is so high that highly qualified professionals are also looking for small jobs. Thousands of poor Afghans are leaving the country to Pakistan, Iran and Turkey in hope of earning some money. In such situations, they are left with no option except to accept the job of Taliban who are reported to be paying 300 to 400 dollars for those who join them. The salary increases with the rank and position. Therefore, it comes out that, it is the failure of government to provide people with jobs that are providing the workforce or soldiers to Taliban. Another surprising factor attributed by the experts, is the overwhelming and vast supply of weapons, money and other support to Taliban. Taliban are reported to be in possession of latest and heavy weaponry. They are well supplied with Afghan and American currency and have the expertise of making plans and strategies for their attacks on Afghan government and its security forces. One wonders as where was Afghan government and its security forces, when Taliban were piling up the weapons and Afghanis or dollars and why were they not stopped in the beginning. Afghan government is in habit of blaming Pakistan for her every failure and India also appreciates Afghanistan to defame Pakistan. How would the afghan government explain or make excuse for the presence of a large number of foreign militants of central Asian countries, who have crossed border from a number of Central Asian countries to come and fight their holy war in Afghanistan. The silence of International forces and their government is also strange in this case. No doubt, they have ceased military operations in the country by handing over the responsibility and authority to Afghan forces but how can they sit on a side and watch Taliban controlling the areas one after the other. Unfortunately, these events are inflicting irreversible and incurable harms on common Afghan. At many occasions, the local police was left on the mercy of militants and after many hours as well, they were not given any back up support. Same happened in Kunduz episode, which led the temporary fall of Kunduz and Taliban stood victorious. Similarly, Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and especially National Army have been made a scapegoat. At a number of occasions, the army was let down not by militants but by the suspicious orders of their higher commanders. In the same way, these dubious events have brought sharp decline in the morale of ANSF who are not afraid of militants but of the government and their commanders, who are playing their strange roles. Keeping in view the deteriorating peace in Afghanistan, the Afghan government must take actions to address all such weaknesses which could lead towards the destabilization of Afghanistan having irreversible impacts on regional countries.
