April 28, 2017

16 years of blood-stained war and counting

located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

Rolling sleeves for yet another blood-stained year in the Afghan history, the Taliban have declared one more year of fighting in a country that has been under war for decades, and is among the poorest in the world.

In a statement published on their website this Friday 28 April 2017, the armed insurgents have warned the citizens to stay away from government installations and individuals, and cooperate with them!
Just a day before the announcement of the so-called spring offensives, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged the warring sides of the Afghan conflict to take immediate and concrete measures to better protect civilians from harm, as the latest data for 2017 shows continued high numbers of civilian casualties. In the first quarter of 2017, UNAMA documented a total of 2,181 civilian casualties (715 dead and 1,466 injured).

The UNAMA has blamed the insurgents of 62 per cent of civilian casualties – 1,353 civilian casualties (447 dead and 906 injured) in the first three months of the 2017 alone. Civilians have been dying at around this rate for most part of at least past 16 years.

As the great Mahatma Gandhi once said: “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”.
The belligerence needs to be stopped, and the world powers - who again seem to be eyeing another round of ‘great game’ in this country which has suffered a lot, should instead strive for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict.

The landmark peace deal between the Afghan government and former rebel leader Gulbudin Hekmatyar is a good start to the stalled peace process. Hekmatyar has returned to his home country after almost 20 years as the peace deal has paved way for him to return to the political arena. Same needs to be done with the Taliban. Armed insurgency, proxy wars and blood-strained politics need to be replaced with sensible peace talks with demonstrated respect to the Constitution of the country, and rights of the citizen.