by Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Despite repeated assurance by the unity government, hopes for peace in Afghanistan have dimmed as the Taliban-led insurgents continued their reign of terror, now even targeting civilians in the capital of Kabul.
"I am not sure if lasting peace would return to Afghanistan in my lifetime or if my children and grandchildren would ever enjoy peace," Mohammad Khan, a 35-year-old Kabul resident, told Xinhua.
Khan expressed his pessimism follow a slew of violent incidents in the strife-torn country, including suicide attacks that rocked Kabul over the past month.
At least three suicide car bombs struck Kabul over the past 10 days which had left nearly a dozen people, mostly civilians, dead and 40 others injured.
On Saturday, a bomb blast killed a person and injured two others in the eastern Nangarhar province.
"Whenever I go out of the house to buy our needs in the market, I am not sure whether I can come back alive because of indiscriminate suicide attacks and roadside bombings," Khan said.
The casualties of the barbaric suicide bombings are mostly innocent civilians, including women and children.
Among those who have lost their lives in the deadly suicide bombings in Kabul over the past couple of weeks were an 18-year- old female university student, a guard of a company, and a taxi driver, the only bread-earner in his family.
"I was born in war, have grown in war and would die in war like my uncle who died in war and my father who was badly injured and later died," Khan said.
The war-torn Afghanistan has witnessed more than three decades of bloody conflicts which begun with an invasion by the former Soviet Union in 1979.
When the U.S.-led coalition invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in late 2001, there was a ray of hope for Afghans that peace would finally settle in their troubled country.
The post-Taliban Afghanistan backed by the international community has made tremendous achievements in all fields over the past 13 years. However, the militancy that was never rooted out has hindered the progress in many sectors and dampened hope for a lasting peace.
The defeated Taliban militants regrouped and resumed their campaign of terror, first in the countryside and now even in urban centers like Kabul, killing thousands of Afghans, including innocent civilians.
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the first half of this year jumped 24 percent against the same period last year, said a report of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released here in July.
According to UNAMA, for the six-month period, it has documented 4,853 casualties, including 1,564 dead and 3,289 injured.
Although the government has promised to ensure security in the country, the Afghans are doubtful that Kabul can really rein in the Taliban insurgents who seem to be more aggressive in their attacks.
Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dustam vowed on Wednesday to "diminish" the Taliban militants and restore peace and stability across the country.
One observer said the Afghan government must match its strong words with equally strong actions to finally wipe out the insurgency that has ruined the people's lives in a once beautiful and peaceful country.
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