Afghanistan Times
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President Ashraf Ghani once said solving problems in all provinces at once is not possible. The remedy he told is gradual and continued improvement. Now that he has talked of improvement, one wonders, where is the sign of improvement on the ground? For instance, heavy clashes are underway between Afghan National Security Forces and the Taliban in Ghor province. Taliban insurgents on Saturday abducted at least 27 people in Paktia province, including women and children. An eyewitness account is that roads were closed at about 5:00am and then abducted passengers. Paktia appellate court chief was assassinated in Kabul, the other day. And a deadliest terror attack was carried out on a restaurant in Kabul last week. Against this backdrop, one doesn’t know what development means? Is development means deterioration? If development means deterioration, then yes, the situation on the ground has been improving. One’s dismay knows no bounds when they hear the international community has pulled funding for the electoral system last week in light of last year’s troubled presidential election. The government has had enough breathing space to improve the electoral system, but the ongoing uncertainty surrounding electoral reforms and parliamentary elections that were originally slated to take place in May, left the international community in dismay. And the result is frustrating. Commenting on the gloomy situation of the electoral reforms, Gul Ahmad Mohammadzai said Friday that by now the commission’s work should have wounded up, but unfortunately, let alone finishing the work it has not started its work yet. All these issues clearly indicate that injustice, poverty, slavery, and ignorance may not be cured by reforms as there is no such a program initiated by the government that addresses all the challenges successfully. Though the general public doesn’t want barricaded houses, bulletproof vehicles, a legion of guards, but full stomach meal, work, health, healthy family, a bicycle, a bike, and an end to security threats, however, if the government cannot fulfill these small dreams, it means it is failing. There is too much to be done in improving people’s lifestyle, social, political and justice systems. Our society is full of inequality, discrimination is at its peak, insecurity plaguing, joblessness on the spread, and there is a government fraught with internal differences. They deny the rifts, but the internal wrangling is the talk of the town. After months of months, the government couldn’t appoint its defense minister. This is not because there is an extreme shortage of deserving and qualified candidates, but the problem is the difference inside the echelon of the government. But given the current course of the government, full of differences, no one gets much better rather things have started falling back and the result will be disastrous. Whereas when public confidence is sagging in the government and it has drawn a lot of flak in recent times for internal strife and political differences, the two leaders of the National Unity Government are unfazed by the criticism. They don’t show any sign of discord or acrimony in public events, but this is not the solution as the nation is desperately looking to the time when both the leaders are on the same page and key national issues are addressed effectively with collective energies.
