September 22, 2019

The paradox of the calm before the storm in Afghanistan

topic:	Human Rights
located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

War-riddled Afghanistan approaches landmark presidential polls amid a horrendous spate of deadly violence that would determine the course of millions in the mountainous country.

One of the longest raging wars in modern history, the scale of destruction caused by the Afghan conflict is unparallel. Imagine for a second a heartbroken mother holding tight with her shivering hands the only remains of her minor son, blood-stained shoes, close to her eyes as she cried in utter pain.

This was the scene, and not for the first time, in Afghanistan last week as a deadly Taliban-claimed suicide truck bombing devastated a public hospital in the country’s remote and restive Zabul province. Nothing in the world can heal the wounds of her soul – be it the Taliban’s self-proclaimed Islamic Emirate or the internationally-backed democratic government in Kabul. On the very same day, a U.S. drone strike blew up more than 20 poverty-ridden pine nut farmers in the eastern Nangarhar province as they were thought to be insurgents.

This filthy war for power, inspired by shady ideologies and regional strategic interests continues to claim innocent lives and spread miseries in its 18th year. In its mid-year report, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 3,812 civilian casualties (1,366 deaths and 2,446 injured) in the first half of 2019 alone. According to the report, women and children continued to be disproportionately impacted by the armed conflict in Afghanistan.

Up to June 30, 2019, the conflict caused 430 women casualties (144 deaths and 286 injured) and 1,207 casualties among children (327 deaths and 880 injured). The forgotten Afghan conflict is one of the most pressing humanitarian crises of our times and needs urgent and determined international attention for immediate resolution without any further bloodshed.

It is the right time to revive the momentum, which the fragile peace process got in the past few months, for a fast-tracked peace parley and eventually settlement acceptable to the Afghan people.