Afghan challenge

The UN's suspension of its demining operations in Afghanistan does not augur well for a country riddled with millions of mines. The world body's decision comes in the wake of the tragic killing of one of its aid workers of French origin over the weekend and the snatching of a UN vehicle at gunpoint on Monday in Ghazni, south of Kabul.

The two incidents show once again the extent of insecurity in the country beyond Kabul, which has become relatively safe since the deployment of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Time and again it has been argued that the scope and the mandate of ISAF - or some such multinational peacekeeping force - should be widened to enable it to be deployed across Afghanistan. This will ensure a minimum of unhindered activity by various NGOs and UN agencies, on whose work a majority of Afghans depend for subsistence.

Afghanistan today needs all the assistance it can get from the international community to recover from the devastating effects of two decades of war and civil war that have left its physical and social infrastructure in a shambles.

The first priority of the government in Kabul and ISAF should be to rebuild the country's damaged infrastructure and provide succor to the people. To return life to a semblance of normality, the warlords need to be somehow neutralized and prevented from causing trouble.

The recent attacks on international relief agencies and NGO personnel, who have no agenda other than to help the destitute, point to the law of the jungle being the rule of the day in Afghanistan. It is the responsibility of the nations that pledged moral and material aid to the ravaged country at Berlin two years ago to see to it that some degree of peace and security returns to Afghanistan sooner rather than later.

-- The Dawn, Karachi