For all who like to keep a keen eye on the situation in Afghanistan, it is all too apparent that violence has been increasing steadily since last year and that the Taliban is making a strong comeback into the heart of the country. The recently released United Nations report on how much violence and suicide bombings have escalated this year doesn’t quite surprise the analysts. Instead, it just confirms the suspicion that a lot still remains to be accomplished in the dilapidated Asian nation.
The UN report states that violence in Afghanistan has increased nearly 30% this year with an increase number of suicide attacks that have entrapped an astoundingly large proportion of civilians. Last year the average violent incidents in the nation numbered 425 per month; now the figure stands at 550. Suicide bombings too have peaked and surprisingly, three-fourths of such attacks have been directed towards local and international peacekeepers.
There have been other reports by other independent bodies that paint a truly grim picture of the restoration and rebuilding process in the post-American invasion of the Afghanistan. The news agency Associated Press stated that no fewer than 5,086 insurgency-related deaths have occurred in the first 9 months of this year. It also reported death of about 180 international soldiers so far.
A couple of years after the US drove away the Taliban from Kabul and the political arean in Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, there was a huge slice of optimism that Afghanistan would be able to rebuild itself. But now things have taken a bleak shade. Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai bowed down to the Taliban and acceded to invite them to politics should the rebels decide to completely disarm themselves. But this proposal was dismissed by the Taliban who want a new Constitution to be written and also demand the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from the nation.
Everyday there are reports from various corners of the nation of suicide bombings and innocent civilian getting killed. While the Afghan security force remains extremely fragile, the international peacekeeping force too appears to have no clue to the rescuing of the rapidly sinking ship.
Image Source: Alertnet
Source: USA Today
