After a period of relative security since the presidential election in October of last year, Afghanistan is witnessing an escalation in violence. This is illustrated by the murder of cleric Maulawi Abdullah Fayaz and the massacre at the Abdul Rab Akhundzada Mosque in Kandahar city; the murder of eleven employees of Chemonics and their relatives in Zabul and Helmand; the murder of five deminers in Farah; the beheading of Mullah Ida Khan in his madrassa in the Barmal district of Paktika province; last week’s cold-blooded execution of at least four Afghan police in Kandahar province; and several fatal attacks against people involved in the upcoming elections.

While the country’s South has been most affected, other parts of the country are far from immune. In Paktika, members of local shuras, a teacher and a religious figure have been killed by extremist elements. And in Kunar, Nuristan and districts of Nangarhar, insecurity has also worsened.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns this violence and those behind it.

The authors of such violence and their supporters inflict unacceptable suffering on a country that struggles to rebuild security, stability and confidence among its citizens; they deprive the population of affected provinces of their right to reconstruction; they create a climate of fear at a time when the population prepares for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections.

Not all violence is caused by extremist attacks. Drugs, local rivalries, corruption and common crime are also involved. But the current offensive by extremist groups, including the Taliban, is playing a primary role in today’s escalation, with what appears to be more funding, more deadly weaponry, more powerful media for propaganda and more aggressive, cruel and indiscriminate tactics.

Last year, close cooperation between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and international forces succeeded in creating a safe environment for an election that became one of the most memorable achievements in the country’s recent history. Security is, therefore, possible to achieve; and as a partner in the organization of the election, the United Nations paid tribute to all those who made it possible for millions of Afghan men and women to participate safely in their first democratic presidential election.

Today this cooperation is needed once again, and it must be enhanced to face new levels of violence. We welcome the recent high-level contacts between the Afghan and Pakistani governments in this respect. Only they, working closely together with support of the international forces and the assistance of the international community at large, can stem the ongoing wave of extremist violence and allow Afghans finally to enjoy the right to a peaceful life that they have been so unjustly denied, for so long.

Kabul, 25 june 2005

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