War and Peace

The security manager at our office hardly sleeps. No, its not that he stands guard protecting us throughout the night but he hasn't given up on his military training and his acquired habit. The first mail that we get to see as soon as we switch on our computers every morning is the mail from him about the security situation in the country. He would have sent it usually at 4 am right after his daily round checking on the guards at the various office facilities and residences. These mails give us snippets from the 34 provinces across the country. The reader's focus is usually the central region which includes Kabul and few other neighboring provinces. There are also city specific mails which are sent to warn us of roads that are closed; demonstrations, processions and meetings that might be potentially unsafe and threats of attacks that are so regular now.

This afternoon my colleague and I had a meeting at a Government office. We had made an office vehicle booking for the trip as we are not allowed to use public transport for anything owing to safety reasons. Half an hour before we were to leave the security manager called to say that there was a security threat in the area and we couldn't move out. We called the government office and postponed our meeting to another day. This is becoming a usual affair now. Yesterday, the entire team from our organization who work on-site at a Ministry came down to the office since the Ministry was evacuated following a bomb threat. Things are hotting up in Afghanistan. I remember a safer Kabul in 2003. The anti government elements have had time since then to re-group and strengthen themselves.

The British Ambassador to Afghanistan said yesterday that Britain has to be involved for many decades in Afghanistan to help with sustainable rebuilding and development. He likened the work to a marathon rather than a sprint. I am not sure if they ever imagined such involvement when they began the war. The same statement could, or rather must come from the American side soon. With Governments changing in these countries it remains to be seen whether the new people in power will share the views of their predecessors. The ANA (Afghan National Army) and the ANP (Afghan National Police) are being trained to gradually take security into their own hands. But until they are confident to do that the foreign forces may have to maintain their soldiers in the country.

The Taleban have already captured some districts down south in Kandahar province and they are moving up gradually. Their spokesperson said in an interview today that Kabul city is going to be their next target. Their tactics he said was going to be the same as is being used in Iraq. He said that there were many volunteers queueing up at their suicide bombing centres. Whatever said and done it will be an uphill battle for bringing back peace and stability in the country. An Afghan colleague remorsefully stated over lunch today, "This country has seen 35 years of war, I was born in war, grew up in war and will die in war". Presence of foreign forces sometimes doesn't look like a great solution. How long will they keep up here. It has to be the Afghans who finally have to look after their homeland. They are a people with an indomitable spirit, building their lives from scratch every time it is destroyed. But they are in disheartening times as there continues to be war and rumors of war all around.

When I look around and see children, specially girls, going to school and young people playing football in the parks, I pray that these don't ever stop for anything. The younger generation has not seen and lived in the beautiful mountainous land that their history books talk about. They cannot fathom why this land would be coveted by the likes of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan and why Mughal Emperor Babur would make it the capital of his empire. Many things that we would take for granted in our home countries is something that the people here yearn for - just a simple, peaceful life, where their families can live secure, can work freely and their children can be educated. Is that too much to ask for? Is that an impossible dream?