After reading the news in the website of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan at a voter registration centre, I was petrified and dumbstruck. I was overcome with grief for the plight of the country, which has now become a permanent battle ground for experiments in war fare.

The saddest part is that unlike the previous years, this year the attackers have challenged the democratic process and unleashed sectarian violence by targeting Shias.

Afghan President’s call for ending violence fell in deaf years, not only did Taliban reject the peace talks but also aggressively called for fighting tooth and nail against the  American forces in Afghanistan as part of a “Spring Offensive” , poses a new security challenge.

Amidst the new challenges, the existing war fare strategies of countries including USA and other countries in Afghanistan needs to be overhauled if we are seriously considering the Quarterly Report on the protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict published by UNAMA. The report says that the civilian casualties reported in the first three months in 2018 reflect similar levels of civilian harm documented in the first three months of 2017 and 2016.

Despite having the support and engagement of the global powers there seems to be little progress in the peace process. Lack of progress happens due to several reasons.

Firstly, there are different examples of projects initiated by different countries but never sustained.

The USA announced a new ‘South Asia Policy’ in Afghanistan in 2017, which has not made any progress in 2018. It has also taken some proactive steps on curbing Pakistani funding of terrorism across the Durand line with little positive development.

China is trying to create a military base in Afghanistan. Once created it will be a bulwark against the Taliban. But there is no assurance from the Chinese authorities regarding the plan.

Secondly, India’s developmental work in Afghanistan is severely hampered by Indo-Pak tensions looming in the background.

Thirdly, US-Russia tensions have made some stakeholders in Afghanistan.

Fourthly, Iran-Arab cold war have protected and nurtured the al-Qaeda and IS-related terror groups.

Here in this context, I am reminded of a story of an old man who gave enlightenment to his quarrelling children by giving each of them a bundle of sticks to break. After strenuous efforts, unable to break the bundle, each of his children were puffing and gasping for breath. Now the old man untied the bundle and gave one stick to each of them, within seconds the sticks were broken.

Which country will take the lead in illuminating other countries about the importance of coming together to fight against Taliban? That is the multimillion dollar question.

Terror groups in Afghanistan are strong and they have the wherewithal to engage in a prolonged and bloody war. Till this moment all the countries were engaged in an unsystematic and partial war without any close collaboration among themselves. If the same system continues there is no hope for peace in the future.

Now the need of the hour is to put aside differences and form partnerships with other countries to convince the Taliban that it is not worth continuing the fight. This also means effectively using every country’s air power, ground forces and artillery to exterminate the last devil from Afghanistan.

References:

https://www.thenation.com/article/resources-were-supposed-to-make-afghan…

https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1479482/us-brigade-arrives-…

https://unama.unmissions.org/protection-of-civilians-reports

View expressed in this article are of the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok’s editorial policy.