Through Their Eyes: Afghanistan: How suicide attack can destroy families

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After more than four decades of war, the Taliban and ISIL control large areas of Afghanistan. Last year, the UN registered the highest number of civilians' deaths since it began counting in 2009. Some 3,800 civilians were killed by suicide attacks and Afghan and NATO airstrikes. In today's report, Sean Callebs reports on how a suicide attack can destroy families.

It may not look like the front lines but consider this: the Afghan government says in the past five years, 45 thousands of its security forces have been killed.

COL. NAJIBULLAH SARTER DEP CHIEF AFGHAN NATIONAL POLICE "Crime exists all over the world -and criminals are everywhere."

And crime is on the upswing in the capital of Kabul. This armed robbery netted thieves some 40-thousand dollars' worth of equipment and cash from this phone store. But bring up insurgents -and the commander's bravado comes pouring out.

COL. NAJIBULLAH SARTER DEP CHIEF AFGHAN NATIONAL POLICE "But we are controlling the assaults, the terrorist attacks, --and keeping other criminal acts under control."

But for all his posturing -the war on terror isn't going well here. National Police and soldiers are losing ground to the Taliban in much of Afghanistan. Despite miles of razor wire, concrete blast walls, and lots and lots of guns -insurgents control more than 50-percent of the country.

SEAN CALLEBS KABUL, AFGHANISTAN "Security is everywhere in the capital of Kabul. The Afghan national police are a constant presence throughout the country. One of their chief jobs here in Kabul is to man the so-called ring of steel to make sure insurgents don't sneak into the heart of the city to unleash terror."

Danger and constant threats are never far away from Kabul's citizens. Even within the walled confines of their modest home -it's hard for Abdul Fatah, and his 55-year-old wife Hanifa to ever feel safe.

HANIFA FATAH MOTHER "They are working on making the security better -but we feel panicked. And we can't walk around the city and feel secure -we fear suicide bombers, and are afraid."

This is why. Insurgents are slipping through the porous Ring of Steel. In late May of 2017, a truck carrying hundreds of kilos of explosives went off outside the German Embassy in Kabul. The single most deadly insurgent attack in the country. More than 400-were injured, -and more than 150-killed Including their son -who was driving a taxi that day.

HANIFA FATAH MOTHER "We all heard the explosion. My son didn't return. After that, his father called his phone but no one answered. We checked all the hospitals and everywhere, but couldn't find him."

They later learned - their son, and his taxi were vaporized in the blast. For Hanifa -it has been two years of tears. Abdul is sick -and the only work he does involves tending to the -garden he is trying to nurture out of Kabul's unforgiving soil.

Their daughter in law abandoned the family, leaving the grandparents to raise three children -now without a father, and mother. Mohammad Selah is being robbed of his innocence, his childhood, - and getting an education, and a decent job, will be difficult.

HANIFA FATAH MOTHER "My grandsons are asking for things that we can't afford. And I tell them, how can we get it without money. We lost your father."

2018 saw the largest number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan in nearly a decade - and this year is starting off in a similar fashion. Former President Hamid Karzai says it's time for peace.

SEAN CALLEBS CGTN REPORTER "You've been quoted as saying the US-Afghan partnership has been a failure. Can you expand on that."

HAMID KARZAI FORMER AFGHAN PRESIDENT "The US came to Afghanistan to defeat extremism, and to bring security. None of that happened -rather we lost thousands and thousands of lives."

And each life lost, brings family destruction, and heartbreak. A brutal 18-year epidemic.

HANIFA FATAH MOTHER "When they make peace, they have to keep it. And stop the war so people like us won't suffer the loss of their sons ---and are left in sorrow."

Left in sorrow - and suddenly facing a bleak future, while the cycle of misery moves on. Sean Callebs, CGTN, Kabul, Afghanistan.