Afghanistan bleeds

For the Afghan government, controlling Taliban’s surge has become a serious issue. The Afghan army and police are so far unable to defend their country. The longest war in contemporary history is ending without producing the desired results. Afghanistan is still in deep waters as far as security and economic challenges are concerned. With mounting Taliban attacks, the gains so far achieved might be washed away. At some stage, a political solution to this crisis will have to be achieved. When will that happen depends squarely on the Taliban. The Afghan government has been ready, even during Karzai’s rule, to settle things with the Taliban. The ball is in the Taliban’s court for years now. Presently, it looks as if they want to defeat the present government and test the remaining US forces’ ability to put this new leg of insurgency to an end. There are reasons to be optimistic though. With Pakistan now on board to eliminate terrorism from the region, and its commitment to make no distinction between the 'good' or the 'bad' terrorists during the ongoing North Waziristan military operation, things might change for the better. The Pakistan army has spelled out its intention to take out the Haqqanis, just as they intend to trash other terrorists. From the recent incursions made into the al Qaeda infrastructure in Waziristan, both by the US and Pakistan, it seems that eventually the Taliban and its affiliates will be left with no option but to return to the negotiations table. Until then, Afghanistan has to be saved from the insurgents who have literally rocked Afghanistan since November. There is no let-up in attacking high profile targets. The Taliban are carefully targeting foreigners and their residences. A German national has been killed in a suicide attack on an auditorium in Kabul on Thursday. Ironically, the theme of the play being staged at the time of the attack in the auditorium was about condemning suicide attacks. The suicide blast was the second attack to strike the Afghan capital in a day after six Afghan soldiers perished when their bus was hit on the outskirts of the city as they rode in to work.

While the US has made a wise decision not leave the region abruptly to prevent Afghanistan from becoming another Iraq, the Afghan government also has to put itself into gear to put the country on its feet and make things conducive for a political settlement.