November 29, 2020

Afghans need to realise the urgency of the ticking clock

topic:	Sustainable Development
located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

As Afghanistan secured yet another financial bailout for at least the next four years, the country’s political elite on all sides of the conflict need to realise the urgency of the ticking clock, and the sooner the better.

The multi-billion dollars’ worth of pledges at the Afghanistan International Conference 2020 in Geneva comes at a time when the entire world is grappling with an ailing economic growth due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There might be no free ride forever regardless of the surrounding circumstances as Kabul secures over $13 billion for the next four years.

It is widely known that Afghans are the authors of their own misfortune to a greater extent while the entire world, particularly the US cannot escape the moral responsibility of utterly failing the war-devastated nation that has clearly lost sight of peace since the erstwhile Cold War.

What is more pressing for the war-ridden country is to put its house in order when it comes to self-reliance – as more treacherous days of little or no aid money might not be far away.

Amid urgency is on the part of the US troop withdrawal and the Afghans – both in the government and the Taliban insurgents – who have been dragging their feet presuming time is on their side, which has never been the case. With each passing moment, the country is losing lives and opportunities for a dignified life for its citizen.

History would not spare the Taliban and the Afghan government for keeping such a vibrant nation on the ventilator of foreign aid when a simple truce followed by adherence to basic human rights and an agreed set of rules and regulations can steer them away from the current vicious circle.

Despite how naïve it may sound, the reported differences at the fragile intra-Afghan peace talks in Doha gives the impression that there are still some who are insisting on putting cart before the horse. Without an immediate ceasefire by all parties, there can hardly be any progress in the peace parley.

As the leaders of an aid-dependent country emerging from the ashes of war, the Afghan elite should emerge above their petty differences and out of their ‘glass houses’ to swallow the bitter pill of modesty and transparency. They need to lead from the front to establish a culture of accountability, paying taxes and nurturing a sense of service to the nation instead of living a life of isolation with the begging bowl.

There is no escape for them from another straight and simple fact that without taking half of the country’s population, women, onboard the worthwhile peace would only remain a distant dream.

Image by David Mark 

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