Kabul – The Kabul streets today make a complicated landscape where the formal discourse of peace frequently comes in conflict with the actual experiences of the people living in them. Though the authorities say that they have created complete order, a closer examination of the Kabul security situation indicates that most of this order is found in silence and fear.
According to reports by the Green Trend of Afghanistan, a political movement led by former vice president Amrullah Saleh, criminal cases, including murder, kidnapping among others are still happening in hundreds, though they may not always find their way into the records.
To an average family, safety is no longer a state of peace, but a state of compliance.
As per the statistics that were recorded in internal security files in the first six months of the year, there were more than 1,700 criminal cases in Kabul with 100 having been murders and 70 kidnappings. These numbers indicate that security in Kabul is still quite weak.
Numerous cases are relabelled as personal quarrels in order not to harm the official security image. This reporting incentive implies that official data may be an expression of a political choice not to report the crisis but to show a reduction in civic safety.
The Voices Behind the Numbers
The stories of the victims can best reveal the human cost of this controlled narrative.
One mother described the horror of finding her two young sons dead after hearing gunfire near her home, while others speak of robberies that happen in broad daylight.
This aspect of Kabul security is usually censored; families are occasionally threatened against discussing kidnappings or bloody murders, lest they be accused of defaming the Emirate.
When a victim is silenced by the threat of arrest, their tragedy disappears from the official charts, but it remains a painful reality for the community.
The increased numbers of suicides and social breakdown indicators, in addition to violent crime, are indicative of a more intensive psychological pressure.
Observers feel that hopelessness is being fostered by political sealing off, economic deprivation and social suppression.
For Kabul security to be considered truly successful, it must allow for independent verification and a judicial system where victims can seek justice without fear of retaliation.
