Continued protests in north to have consequences if not handled

Governments, as a basic requirement, must have the capacity to manage a crisis. Government efforts aimed at political stability and economic prosperity will not yield any result if governments lack such quality. The incumbent Afghan government unfortunately fails in many cases to manage the crises emerging in the country. The turbulence in the country’s north is a recent example to support the claim. Supporters of First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum have been holding anti-government rallies in many northern provinces and even in capital, Kabul, for the past two weeks. They have closed down the provincial offices of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and several other government entities in six provinces. In Kabul, the demonstrators have also warned to shut IEC’s main office. The protestors are calling for return of their exiled leader, Gen. Dostum, as well as the release of Nizamuddin Qaisari, a militia commander, who has been arrested by Afghan forces.
The volatile political situation in the north has posed serious challenges for people and local government administrations. On the one hand, the militants have intensified their attacks, but on the other hand, the government is too bogged down with the rallies, a situation that has demoralized Afghan forces fighting on the front lines. Moreover, the closure of highways and border crossings such as Aqina port by the protestors daily causes huge economic losses to people.
The arrest of irresponsible armed men is not the only responsibility of the central government. It is responsible for dealing with the “aftershocks” of such incidents. Laws should certainly be enforced on illegal militias like other people because they are, if not bigger, by no account a less threat to the government than the insurgents are. Any action by the government against the illegal armed men should be welcome; however, the government must have a clear calculation whether or not it can deal with what will happen next.
Before the north rallies escalate into a full-fledged crisis, the central government and politicians must act to contain and remedy the situation. The opportunist circles should be stopped through logical ways not to pave the way for the execution of the evil schemes of the enemies of Afghanistan by exploiting the critical situation in the country’s north. The government’s obsession with other pressing issues should not drop the turbulence in north off its priority list. The government’s current indifference towards the issue will have grave consequences.