Afghanistan Times
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Billions of dollars have been funneled into this war-wracked country yet extreme poverty, joblessness and the signs of war are quite visible in every nook and cranny of the country. Poverty and inequality are considered as preconditions for militancy. Nearly 400 educated but jobless youth in western Ghor province have warned the government that they will never hesitate from joining the Taliban or drug smugglers if their concerns are not addressed. At the same a set of photos went viral on social media where the governor of Nangarhar has been photographed while serving a lavish meal where different dishes and fruits decorate the tablespread, and an elderly man who is satiating his hunger just with a cup of tea and dried up leftover bread piece while sitting by the side of a shrine. There is yet another picture in the frame and that’s about a child, wearing some worn out cast-offs, sitting on a heap of trash and eating of thrown away leftovers. This is heart rending. It speaks much about the deepening rich-poor standoff. And it speaks too much about the inequitable distribution of national wealth. In a country where government jobs are on sale, where contracts are being awarded on kickbacks, where people wait for years to see their court cases concluded, and where daughters are swapped for animals, money and food, what will be the fate of a common man. A few buildings being built in the capital Kabul and provinces, doesn’t surmise the change and development. To assess how much development and change have come through liberal foreign monetary assistance, a one-off trip in countryside is enough. As some of the disgruntled Ghor youth alleged that majority of provincial council members, parliamentarians and some other big guns in the government hire their buddies while leaving those without political connections being discarded; now it’s up to the new government how it deals with the issue. When the political elite of well-off, occupied by orgies of life and the world is a village for them, because they pass their day in Dubai, their nights in London, and evening in Paris, then who cares about the problems of the man in the street. Sometimes, it is felt as the common people are not humans. When militancy is soaring, it is the common man that is the worst victim. When inflation is deepening, it is the common man that suffers. And when there is lack of access to justice, it is the common that is stampeded. Is there anybody who could really change their fate, alleviate their problems and set a foundation of such a governance which is just, believe in equitable distribution of wealth and ensure that none dares to consider government’s possessions as their family properties. Inflation is hitting the backbone of consumers. Could anybody from the government point it out that why there has been a sharp hike in kidnappings? It’s simply because poverty is on the rise and those getting poorer are getting into kidnapping trade. It has become a trade now. The government should take notice of all these economic and social ills before it is too late.
