Afghan Elections and Bad Security

Written by: Zabihullah Noori

From the announcement of the presidential and provincial councils’ elections onward, the security is becoming worse on daily bases. People in the north, northeast and west of country have begun to experience the insecurity that the Afghans of South and East of the country had been experiencing in the past years.

It becomes to a matter of shame for the Afghan and international security forces, when the Taliban insurgents carry out their attacks to the headquarters of these highly-equipped and well-trained national and international forces.

Media have enormously reported the increase of insecurity in different parts of the country, but according to Afghans, may be the Afghan security forces are so busy campaigning for Mr. Karzai that they even do not watch or listen to the news to know about these incidents.

Recently, the Taliban fired several rockets in Kabul early morning on Tuesday, August 4.

Afghans say they hope that the security officials might have heard the sound of rockets that the Taliban fired on their buildings at the heart of Kabul in Wazir Akbar Khan area, home to US embassy, NATO headquarter and ANA’s main compound. According to some Kabul residents, may be, Mr. Karzai and his weak security team have now come to realize that the situation is getting worse and that people are suffering the instability in the country.

National and international experts believe that a major part of the problem rests with the bad management of the Afghan president. His bad management and immature decisions strengthened the insurgent; endangered Afghans and cost the lives of thousands in south, east and southwest of the country in the past years, an international expert who did not want to be named, said.

The attack in the diplomatic area in Kabul less than three weeks before the elections sparks tensions on the increase in insurgency in key places on the eve of the polls.

The international expert said it is a matter of astonishment that Mr. Karzai still dares to come among the people and proudly announce his nomination for the second term, thinking that Afghans will vote for him again.

But people seem to have made their minds and to have known the politics of Mr. Karzai. As Ghulam Farooq, a taxi driver said, Karzai should know that Afghans have become aware and they will not let anyone cheat on them and play with their future.

Farid Ahmad, a former military officer of Dr. Najibullah’s time said, “Karzai lacks leadership potential; it was him who caused the empowerment of insurgents and brought them to doorsteps of Kabul. Karzai is to be blamed for making a weak team of security forces who cannot defeat the insurgents not only in bordering areas, but also in the Afghan Capital”.

Taking the responsibility for the latest attack in Kabul, a purported Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid said to the Associated Press, “The attack is to highlight that the Afghan security forces cannot control security around the capital ahead of the presidential and provincial council elections later this month.”

Experts believe that as we move closer to the elections the security will only get worse, because the Taliban have vowed to increase their attacks ahead of elections scheduled for August 20.