Life in Afghanistan has literally become putting one’s head in the loin’s mouth. The security is getting deteriorated with each passing day, and even the capital is instable to an extent that nobody’s safe within a home or without. The number of targeted killings, attacks on hospitals, killing of religious leaders, and blasts, as well as front-line war among the belligerent sides, could be said to be at their peaks – and that too when we seem to be on the eve of unprecedented intra-Afghan talks. But, regrettably, civilians are the ones who bear most of the brunt of this unending war. Last week, two staffers of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) were deliberately targeted and killed in a sticky bomb incident. Meanwhile, the capital Kabul has seen a spur in violence in these months of lockdown, and street crimes and burglaries have increased. This is while according to the UN, more than 800 people were killed or wounded in “deliberate attacks” targeting civilians in Afghanistan during the first half of 2020. This raises concerns that the rising violence is specifically aimed at derailing the planned peace talks. At this juncture, when the government has obviously failed to keep its promises of providing safety to Afghans, there is a need for a collective voice of the nation which should mobilize in an organized manner and ask the warring parties to bring an end to the long-running war once and for all. This is because the continuation of war has come at the expense of civilians losing their lives while the sides don’t seemingly care about the collateral damage of their war. Also, the government should provide accountability for investigations that are launched into these incidents; however, we never see their results. Afghan people want peace, something that has eluded them for decades, but conversely, they are ravaged by violence. At this point in time, the peace process should be kept safe from spoilers, who exist on both sides and are working against peace. Only peace would help in averting and watching out for enemies’ nefarious designs and lead to a thorough enforcement of law and order. Otherwise, in the fog of war, such atrocities and criminalities would continue to agonize Afghans.
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