The unstable security situation in Afghanistan is becoming more and more serious in the final days of the year with the Taliban conducting continuous terrorist bombings and causing huge losses in terms of human lives and property. Fifteen years have gone by, but the battle against terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan has yet to report any signs of ending, and is even predicted to become fiercer and more arduous in the years ahead.
On the evening of December 21, the Taliban launched a suicide attack aimed at the house of an Afghan MP representing Helmand province in the capital of Kabul, killing at least five people and leaving many others wounded. The incident took place as officials of Helmand were participating in an important military meeting in the context where the province, which used to be a lair of the Taliban, had fallen into the hands of rebels. Kabul is not the only locale to suffer losses from violence. In Ghazni and Nangarhar provinces to the east, Farah province to the west, Kunduz province to the north, in central Ghor province and other localities, fighting between Afghan Security Forces (ASF) and the Taliban, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) and the Al-Qaeda terrorist group, has been going on throughout the past year. The Taliban has risen and strengthened armed attacks and suicide bombings, killing government forces and civilians. More worrying, the Taliban has recklessly attacked the most heavily guarded venues of foreign forces in Afghanistan, including the NATO air base explosion in Parwan province, around an hour north of the Afghan capital Kabul, which killed at least four and injured 14, as well as the suicide attack aimed at the German Consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, leaving over 100 dead and injured. In 2016, the Afghan government, backed by the US army and its NATO allies, carried out many crackdown campaigns on terrorism and extremism; however, there has yet to be any sign that the gunfire will soon stop.
Fifteen years after the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda deployed a series of horrific attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, in response to the country kick-starting the war in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime, the Taliban has yet to be completely eradicated, but is even rising again. US military officials revealed that the Afghan government lost control or influence over more than 2% of territory from May to August 2016 and the Taliban has taken control of a larger part of territory than at any time since then. Losses suffered by Afghan civilians and army have also increased alarmingly, with violence having killed a preliminary calculated number of more than 5,500 security officers in the first eight months of the year.
Many said that the Afghan military was not qualified enough to combat attacks of militants and was challenged by the insurgents in many big cities. Others stated that ASF were depending too much on the foreign forces, including the US. However, the US presidential election, as well as the situation in the Middle East, has drawn the Washington administration into other interests which are much more important than those at the South Asian front, including Afghanistan. In order to reassure its ally in the fight against terrorism, during his recent visit to Afghanistan, US Defence Minister Ashton Carter reiterated Washington’s long-term commitments to the South Asian country. Accordingly, the US army would continue supporting the Kabul administration in its military campaign aimed at IS and al-Qaeda targets. It was Carter’s fourth visit to Afghanistan and his second sine the NATO Summit last July, during which Western nations agreed to finance the Afghan army and police forces US$5 billion each year, until 2020.
The year of 2016 is going to end with the security picture in Afghanistan being dyed gray. Without any breakthrough measures taken, the unstable security situation caused by Taliban, IS and other rebel groups will continue posing tough challenges to the ASF, signalising a difficult mission for the native administration in the year to come.
Nhan Dan
