Kabul is under attack once again, dozens of civilians mostly women and children are reported to have been killed in terrorist attack carried out by the banned militant outfit –the ISIS, near a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul where a large number of Afghans citizens had gathered to get their identity cards and register their votes. According to reports the blast occurred in the Dasht-e-Barchi area of western Kabul, where many of the country’s Shia Hazara minority resides.
Kabul’s acting police chief, Mohammad Daoud Amin, said the assailant detonated his explosives at the doorway of the ID distribution centre in the capital at 10am on Sunday. A public health ministry official said ambulances evacuated dozens of wounded, adding that the death toll may rise. The last major attack in Kabul was on March 21 when an IS suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd celebrating the Persian New Year holiday, killing at least 33 people. Last week three other attacks took place, in which unknown armed men attacked a voter registration center in Ghor province and kidnapped three IEC employees and two policemen. On Thursday, unknown armed men attacked two police force members in Jalalabad City who were guarding a voter registration center. The two policemen were killed in the ensuing gunfight. On Friday, unknown armed men attacked a voter registration center in Qala-e-Naw, the center of Badghis province, where a police officer assigned to maintain security was killed. The frequent attacks being carried out by the banned militant organizations speak volumes about the flawed policies and military strategies being pursued to tackle the situation in the region. The worsening situation in the country also highlights the Afghan government failure and lack of ability to protect its own people. The fact is that despite using all its military power the US and allied forces have not been able to restore much needed peace in the war-torn country. The country is reeling under perpetual violence as the mindless bloodshed goes on unabated without any end in sight. In such a scenario all that is direly needed at the moment is that the stakeholders should sit and talk and revisit its wisdom on the issue. The first step towards a solution is to recognise that the strategy pursued so far hasn’t worked. Unfortunately the US administration seems a bit reluctant to accept the reality that dialogue with Taliban is the only way out of Afghanistan and vice versa the Taliban leadership must acknowledge this ground reality that war is no solution to the problem. Since the people of Afghanistan have suffered terribly due to this protracted war it is time that the stakeholders whosoever must evolve a comprehensive strategy to find a plausible solution to the long-drawn conflict that had unfortunately brought death and destruction in the country.
