It takes the killing or kidnapping of foreigners for the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan to gain visibility. More than five years after the US-led alliance toppled the Taliban in the aftermath of Sept. 11, thinking it had dealt them a lethal blow, the country is still caught in a spiral of escalating violence. The removal of the tyrannical regime could have marked a new beginning for Afghanistan, ravaged by decades of conflict. Women, in particular, had been the target of severe restrictions under the Taliban that virtually confined them to their homes. But the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai, and indeed the international community, have failed to turn the tide. Not enough resources and efforts were put into improving ordinary Afghans’ daily life. Turkey, now in command until December 2007 of the Kabul Regional Command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), faces a major challenge to maintain security in the capital. In the countryside, lawlessness rules while in provinces of the south, troops are locked in deadly battles with insurgents.
The Taliban are enjoying a strong resurgence, and both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published reports in recent days drawing attention to the impact it is having on civilians. Amnesty believes the failure of the process of state-building, the widespread corruption, the human rights violations committed by Afghan and foreign forces over the past years as well as poverty, are all factors in the recent revival of the Taliban. If a young man can earn $300 a month as a Talib, why should he join the Afghan army for wages that are only a third of this amount?
According to HRW, at least 669 Afghans were killed last year in 350 separate armed attacks by insurgents. Anti-government forces are apparently copying the methods used by Iraqi militants: there were 136 suicide attacks last year, a six-fold increase on the previous year. Casualty figures tell only part of the story. Both organisations believe insurgents are now increasingly targeting civilians working for the nongovernmental organizations, teachers, as well as any government employees, considered “spies” or “collaborators.”
These growing threats impair the delivery of services that are crucial if Afghanistan is ever to get back on its feet. The number of children attending school had increased substantially since 2001, although more than half of school-age children still get no education, but in the southern provinces now largely under the control of Taliban fighters, hundreds of schools are closing down, after some of them were fire-bombed or had their teachers killed.
Amnesty counted 172 attacks on schools in the first half of 2006. People involved in women’s education or vocational training are also at risk: last September, Safiye Amajan, director of women’s affairs in Kandahar province, was “executed” by the Taliban. According to Amnesty, her female counterparts in eight other provinces have also received death threats.
The increasingly precarious security situation has led many nongovernmental organizations and international agencies to scale back their operations or to suspend them altogether. This is further fuelling the discontent of Afghans, whose hopes for a better life have all but been extinguished.
