The devastating earthquake in Kunar province has once again revealed a bitter truth: Afghanistan has never truly had a government that served its people. For decades, beyond a few major cities, ordinary citizens have been left to fend for themselves, abandoned by institutions that should have protected them. The tragedy in Kunar made this painfully clear. Many of those who lost their lives did so not only because of the quake itself, but because of the absence of basic infrastructure. In several villages there were no reliable roads for emergency access. Survivors recount that some people remained alive under the rubble for six or seven hours, but help could not reach them in time.
Healthcare was no better. An entire province with hundreds of thousands of residents had no modern hospital capable of treating the injured. Victims had to be transported all the way to Nangarhar for basic medical care. This is not a failure of nature but of governance. When a state cannot provide healthcare in the most critical moments, it shows how little it values human life.
The collapse of homes added another layer of tragedy. Families built with what little they had. Their houses were fragile and unsafe, not because they chose it, but because no government ever offered technical guidance or financial support. There were no surveys to identify safe building zones, no regulations to ensure earthquake-resistant construction, no subsidies to help poor families build properly. In this vacuum of responsibility, thousands of houses crumbled in seconds.
Transportation was another silent disaster. In areas where no public transport exists, how could the injured be moved quickly or supplies delivered? The absence of such services is not accidental. Public services are the responsibility of the state, and when they are missing, ordinary people pay the price with their lives.
Leaders often ask why Afghans do not support their governments. The answer is simple. When the state has never made a positive difference in their lives, why would people trust it? Afghans have always survived on their own. They build their homes, create their own networks, and when tragedy strikes, it is communities themselves who rush to help. The earthquake in Kunar is proof. Were it not for ordinary people arriving from nearby districts, the loss would have been even greater.
This is the real face of Afghanistan: a people who stand together even when the state abandons them. But it is also a reminder that public services are not luxuries. Roads, hospitals, schools, safe housing, and public transport are rights. These are the minimum duties of any government. Other nations have shown what is possible. In Japan, earthquakes far stronger than this one claim far fewer lives because the government values its citizens and invests in prevention before disaster strikes.
Today Afghans face another week of grief, with thousands injured and many still without proper healthcare. Women, in particular, struggle for access, and the death toll may sadly continue to rise. Yet one lesson is clear. Afghanistan has never had a true state, but it has always had a nation — a nation of people who carry each other through war, poverty, and disaster. That solidarity is Afghanistan’s greatest strength. What is missing is a government that finally accepts its responsibility and serves its people with dignity.
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