Afghanistan’s skies are once again carrying the sound of warplanes. Initial reports say Pakistani airstrikes in Kunar have wounded civilians. The full casualty toll has not yet been independently verified, but the broader issue is already clear: Afghan territory is repeatedly becoming a theatre for the use of external military force.
This is not merely a border incident. It is a question of a sovereign country’s airspace, the protection of its citizens, and a fundamental principle: can a more powerful neighbour simply drop bombs inside another country?
For more than four decades, Afghanistan has paid for war, bombing, displacement and foreign intervention with the lives of its people. One generation was born into war, another grew up in it, and demanding the same price from a new generation is unacceptable.
A home is a home whether it stands in Kunar, Paktia or Paktika. A child living inside it is not a point on a military map but a human being.
The Quran treats the unlawful taking of human life as an exceptionally grave matter. War does not erase moral limits. Women, children, the elderly and people who are not participating in hostilities do not lose the sanctity of their lives because political circumstances change.
Afghanistan is an independent country. It has borders, airspace and territorial integrity. When another country’s military aircraft enter Afghan skies and drop bombs, the question is not only where the bomb landed; it is also where Afghanistan’s sovereignty begins and ends.
The UN Charter is built around respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of states. If the borders of smaller and weaker states remain inviolable only for as long as stronger neighbours choose to respect them, international law becomes paper rather than principle.
Afghanistan should state a simple principle clearly to the world: our land is not the battlefield of another country; our villages are not a military training ground; our homes are not payment for calculations made across a border; and our children are not acceptable collateral damage in a military strategy.
Afghanistan can be disagreed with. Kabul’s policies can be criticised. Diplomatic pressure, negotiations, mediation and international institutions all exist. But a bomb is not an argument.
Every such incident should be documented. Civilian harm should be independently investigated. Afghanistan should consistently raise the protection of its airspace and citizens in regional and international forums.
This is not a demand in support of any government, party or ideology. It is a demand for Afghanistan’s sovereignty.
Afghanistan has seen enough war. Its people have the right to a future in which their children do not wake at night to the sound of warplanes.
Afghanistan’s skies belong to Afghanistan. Its people’s lives deserve respect, its territory deserves respect, and its sovereignty should not depend on the will of a neighbouring power.