October 25, 2020

The protracted Afghan conflict; a global disgrace

topic:	Peace and Reconciliation
located:	Afghanistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

True, Afghans are the authors of their own misfortune to a great extent, but the entire world cannot escape the moral responsibility of utterly failing the war-devastated nation that has clearly lost the sight of peace. 

The sheer fact that the bloodbath in the country has been going on for over four decades speaks volumes of how the world has turned a blind eye towards it. The geopolitical dynamics of the war resonating all over the world is another proof of how Afghanistan has been chosen and left as the messy battle arena.

With a clear knowledge of the foreign meddling in their country, elite delegates from both warring factions i.e. the Taliban and the Kabul government are simply killing time in a luxurious Qatari villa in Doha in the otherwise disguised long-due peace parley. All eyes on ‘Uncle Sam’ amid the forthcoming presidential polls.

The entire world, particularly countries with direct or indirect involvement in the Afghan war theatre also seem to be killing time, stuck in a vicious cycle of waiting for a tragedy to strike, only to come out in condemnation and return again to life as usual.

In reality, nothing about this raging war is anywhere close to normal or usual. There is something terribly wrong with the entire global system and perspective in regard to Afghanistan. Perhaps sheer disregard towards the value of Afghan lives. In the past week alone, more than 100 civilian lives were lost.

Just take the latest example out of dozens of identical tragedies this year alone. Young school children busy in an evening class in the western neighbourhood of Kabul were blown to pieces in an attack allegedly claimed by the so-called Islamic State.

The suicide attack in the Afghan capital’s Dasht-e-Barchi claimed the lives of at least 24 young boys who were a ray of hope for nearby residing poor ethnic Shia Hazara families already devastated by so many identical calamities. Frightened and terrified by the raging war, the community has confined itself in this small ghetto, but violent terrorism keeps following them to their doorsteps.  

This entire neighbourhood in the shattered Afghan capital feels like a ghost town with posters of hundreds of ‘martyrs’ mostly young, everywhere.

The blood of these innocent souls is not only on the hands of the terrorists who continue to brazenly kill them but also the silent spectators in the quarters of power who are unable or unwilling to broker peace here.

Image by David Mark 

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