Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
Once again the Taliban unleashed the floodgates of terror. Once again the nation witnessed the bloodbath. The coldblooded Taliban, the merchants of hatred and bloodshed, killed at least 19 members of Afghan Local Police (ALP) and two civilians in the northwestern Faryab province. Yes, Faryab, a province that made headlines in media for military operation launched by the First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. In the contemporary history of the world, no incumbent president or deputy president has gone to the battlefield, organized and led military operations however Dostum did it. He made a difference. Yet at the same time the operation was a complete farce, from beginning to the end as when he was in the battlefield, the Taliban ran away, and when he was out from Faryab province, the Taliban came back. Now Dostum is in Sar-i-Pul and the Taliban are out. When he leaves they will come back. So, the operation is not yielding the desired objectives. Battling the Taliban needs a long term strategy not quick fixes. Besides that the government’s security policy in other provinces is also failing. When the governors and tribal elders of certain volatile provinces call for help and increased deployments of security forces, the call is fallen on deaf ears in Kabul and when some districts fall to the Taliban the government’s machinery comes into movements and dispatches battalions to reclaim the lost districts. What is the result? It takes weeks to retake the lost areas at a higher cost. The government needs overhauling its security strategy. As Amrullah Saleh, the ex-spy chief and dynamic young man with good political insights on the political landscape of the country besides professional skills, says that the issue the government’s competence and delivery, so is the general publics’ view regarding the government. All their hopes have dashed to the ground. The government so far has failed to deliver. The current leadership looks unnerved as too many things have gone messed up. The topsy-turvy start of the government, the drawdown of coalition troops, the decline in international aid, the continued fall of Afghani (national currency) brought the government under a heavy pressure, which is why it looks failing to live up to the expectations of the people, who had dared the Taliban’s threat and swelled before polling stations to reject the Taliban and elect the new government. The most pressing challenge is the government will have to survive sans assistance from the US troops once they completely pull out from the country. The United States President Obama says that the last American troops will leave Afghanistan at the end of 2016. So, Kabul has one year and a few months to devise its own security plans while keeping in mind that beyond 2016, it wouldn’t have the backing of American troops. Though this is very much satisfactory that Afghan national security forces have been demonstrating well against the Taliban yet the government needs to overcome the security loopholes in the volatile provinces.
