Afghanistan Times
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The Taliban insurgents have become a severe headache for the public and the government. To deal with the increasing insecurity, the public has defied the threats and harsh weather and to cast votes. The turnout was unprecedented. However, the public mandate was not respected. Despite that everyone welcomed formation of the National Unity Government (NUG) in order to see the dawn of peace and stability. Unfortunately, public aspirations were not respected and the national interests became second priority for the government as the NUG leaders remained busy in sorting out their own problems and differences. Their efforts to distribute the power equally have consumed precious time. Yet, they failed to remove the deadlock over key issues such as: appointments of key officials; issuance of electronic national identity cards; parliamentary and district councils’ elections; and amendments in the constitution to create post of the Chief Executive.
The quest for power by the leaders has affected lives of the public badly. Insecurity has scaled new heights. Fall of Kunduz City to the Taliban again on Monday prove that the government has not learnt from the past mistakes. The provincial council member in Kunduz, Asadullah Saddat, confirmed that the Taliban had overrun the city. Performance of the current government can be summarized in just three words—failure upon failure. At a time when the Kunduz City and Helmand were on the verge of collapse, the president left the country for Brussels while the chief executive has not made his mind yet. The country is at war but the commander-in-chief is not here. The security forces are giving sacrifices to defend the country, but the leaders are far away from battlefields. Perhaps, they take the Brussels summit more important to be attended by key Afghan officials than paying visits to the insecure areas; otherwise, they would have taken the fragile security situation serious.
Seemingly, intention of the Taliban is to cause panic by launching coordinated attacks in Helmand and Kunduz. It worked well. It worked well both for the militants and those who ask the NUG leaders to convene the Loya Jirga so the fate of the ‘failed government’ will be decided to provide relief to the insecurity-hit people.
The leaders cannot blame foreign elements for long to cover their mistakes and differences. Despite numerous challenges, the previous government was able to hold control over all major cities. No major city was fallen to the Taliban till establishment of the NUG. People are in their right to demand the Loya Jirga in order either to reject the current government or approve it by amending the constitution. The sooner the fate of the government is decided will be better for the country because the nation cannot afford insecurity anymore.
