There is a popular saying that “Failure is also a path to success if lessons are learned from it.” One of the main issues in Afghanistan is unfortunately that its governments never learn lessons from its mistakes and failures, and are therefore recurrently bitten from the same hole. The capital of northeastern Kunduz province completely fell to the Taliban within a year after the National Unity Government took charge of the country in September 2014. At that time, the rebels ruled the strategic city for three weeks. The city teetered on the verge of collapse for a second time in 2016. The central government should have learned lessons when the city was captured by the insurgents for the first time, and taken concrete measures for the prevention of the tragedy. However, it did not address the security lapses despite assigning a commission to investigate the incident, and Kunduz remained a weak spot throughout the tenure of the National Unity Government.
Although the central government made many pledges to fundamentally correct the situation after the first fall of the province, they were never translated into actions. The Ghani administration did not implement development projects that could present a positive image of government rule to local communities, thereby enticing the locals away from the Taliban. The weakness of government rule has allowed the Taliban to muster and shelter even on the outskirts of cities before unleashing attacks on urban targets. This was the key factor that had enabled the rebels to repeat the tragedy of the fall of Kunduz city. Rumors were being circulated on social media several days prior to the Taliban’s Kunduz offensive that local officials, including the provincial governor, were leaving government buildings at night to stay at the heavily guarded airport. Such irresponsible behavior demoralizes Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), and assures the Taliban of a victory.
The central government should have now realized where the real problem of Kunduz lies. The shortcomings should be identified, and solutions explored and embraced. In the light of its findings, the government should take measures that can protect the city from experiencing yet another disaster. If the government still does not know how to and what can secure the city, it must never call itself a responsible government.