Indigent Nation and Gilded Arg!

On 17 October, upon the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, painful news such as 54 percent of Afghans living under the poverty line was published. It was also said that one third of Afghans do not have food to eat. The World Food Programme has also affirmed the worsened economic situation of Afghanistan due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

While the media was publishing statistics regarding the poverty and unemployment of the Afghan people, the world saw another set of data being released. This data was on the money-wastage of the Presidential Palace in which 123 million Afghani (local currency) was spent on personal expenditure of fifteen staff such as house rent, food and travel costs, amongst other things from the Code 91 emergency fund. One can only imagine the amount Kabul’s corrupt officials have wasted through embezzlement.

The extravagance of the rulers while the country upon whom they were forcefully imposed remains in miserable conditions is sufficient proof that they do not consider themselves a part of the public. The reality is that neither are they acquainted with the devastating condition of the Afghans, and nor interested or feel pain upon their suffering.

Our people do not have even dry bread to eat yet behind the walls of the residences of quisling officials, hundreds of thousands are being spent on luxurious food. This itself is a clear demonstration of the distance between ruler and ruled. This also confirms our assertion that the Kabul quislings do not hold an Afghan identity, rather comprise of individuals whom foreigners have imposed to protect their imperialistic agenda. They do not share the people’s values, nor sympathize with their grief.

The solution to these problems is that the leadership of Afghanistan be surrendered to its true protectors. It should be handed over to individuals who are acquainted with the country’s problems, have experience living among the civilian population, sympathize with the grief of the people and can speak their tongue. They feel the people’s pain as their own and sacrifice their life and wealth for them. Only these people are deserving of such a weighty responsibility as looking after the affairs of an entire country and people. How must the world expect an improvement in Afghanistan while one of its biggest hurdles are sitting in Kabul as imposed puppets of foreigners?