There
could be no greater curse on a nation than to foist an aimless and deadly war
upon it. Afghanistan since long is faced with this damned curse of war and
violence. Since the 1980's Afghans are
caught between a rock and hard place having no clear vision how to get out of the
tunnel of the war. When the Red Forces made their exit, the Taliban came in and
when they were toppled the American came in. So, we can say that during the 30-plus
years Afghans have been hankering after peace.
Hardly have Afghans got during the past ten years a good news; this is the
situation across the country. Afghans are bearing the brunt of the war as a
result of the conspiracies of others hatched against them for many reasons--the one
is their strategic location.
Those who reared and provided sanctuary to the militants are getting the US aid
in billions of dollars and enhancing their nuclear capabilities and arsenals
while those who fought the Red Forces for the liberty of their motherland are
still stuck between the hammer and the anvil.
Today Afghanistan is faced with a number of enormous challenges, both internally as well as externally. It has homegrown, foreign and foreign-backed militants, proliferated in almost all the sectors of the state and the society. They are here in every sector, starting from military to police, from education to banking with full but covert support of Afghanistan's neighboring states. Besides that the foreign troops have also unleashed terror, for there is hardly a day where residents of the country do not receive news about civilian casualties caused by the foreign forces and sometimes they get news about rape cases--the most heinous of crimes.
The rape case in Panjawai district of Kandahar is teh
recent instance where a US Sergeant rapped women besides killing 16 civilians.
Moreover the nation is dejectedly entangled and enmeshed in a vicious circle of
terrorism involving a multiplicity of terror forces, including foreign proxies,
homegrown fanatics but to add to its miseries, it has a deeply troubled and
fragile economy.
Amid all these vicissitudes there is lack of consensus among the leaders, which has further enmeshed the nation into troubles. To take the nation out of this bog of terror, weak economy and hostile attitude being adopted by the neighboring countries, it needs leadership equipped with political wisdom and acumen, for only a president or a minister cannot steer the nation towards a safe harbor until he has all the political figures on the same page, with big minds, tall thoughts, and above all enthusiasm for getting rid of the scourge of terror.
We
have hardly seen any pragmatic idea, peace road map or anything else that we
can appreciate from the opposition leaders who feel pride in criticizing the
Karzai-led government only.
The incidents that took place at the military hospital, Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry at the heart of Kabul should be eye-opening incidents for all because terrorism is our collective enemy and needs to be fought collectively. However if we are stuck in the war of words with one another, violence and bloodshed would remain our destiny. It is worth pondering that how the assaulter crept into the high-security Wazir Akbar Khan area and why the militants attacked a hospital and doctors' community this time, for they are life-saving messiahs.
Our political leaders should start thinking collectively instead of working for
factionalism and should start pondering now over the root causes of the terror,
for until we reach the cancerous spot, which is spreading the germs of this
leprous disease, it is quite immaturity to hope for the cure.
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