February 1, 2008

 

Overview

 

Nearly a dozen dead in violence across Afghanistan

At least eleven people were killed in separate incidents of violence across the country this week. Seven people were killed in two suicide bombings in south and central Afghanistan Thursday (January 31), including the deputy governor of restive Helmand province. The blast in Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gar, killed six people inside of a mosque at the start of afternoon prayers, according to the Associated Press (AP). The bomber was reportedly standing near Deputy Governor Pir Mohammad when he detonated the explosive vest he was wearing, killing Mohammad and five others. Up to 21 people were also injured in the blast, according to the AP. According to the BBC, Helmand, where US-led coalition forces have engaged in intense clashes with militants, is a major stronghold of the Taliban, which claimed it carried out the attack. The other blast occurred Thursday morning in the capital, Kabul, when a bomber blew up his car next to a crowded military bus in the city's Taimani neighborhood, the BBC reported. The explosion killed one civilian and injured two others, but inflicted no casualties on the Afghan army bus, according to the AP. Separately, suspected Taliban militants beheaded four Afghan road construction workers that were abducted last week. Their headless bodies were discovered in Nuristan on Wednesday (January 30) after their families reportedly failed to pay ransom.

 

Groups warn Afghanistan may fail without more international effort

Several reports released on Wednesday (January 30) and Thursday (January 31) by various groups, including a leading international non-governmental organization (NGO), and think-tanks warn that more international effort and a change in direction are needed to make Afghanistan a stable state. The warnings came as Canada said that its soldiers will not stay in Afghanistan unless more North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops are deployed to the country's restive south. The UK-based Oxfam aid agency warned Thursday of a "humanitarian disaster" in Afghanistan unless the international community made a "major change of direction..." In a letter to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the group said that the international approach towards Afghanistan was lacking direction and is "incoherent and uncoordinated," the BBC reported. "There has been undoubted social and economic progress in Afghanistan, but it has been slow and is being undermined by increasing insecurity," Oxfam International's director Barbara Stocking wrote. Two other reports from US-based agencies also warn of Afghanistan becoming a failed state. The American Afghanistan Study Group said Wednesday that "resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, too few military forces and insufficient economic aid" were contributing to Afghanistan's troubles, according to the BBC. The group said that more NATO troops were needed to tackle the Taliban and also called for a new special US envoy to coordinate all aspects of US policy in the country. The comments echo the other study released Wednesday, led by former UN ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired US Marine Corps General James Jones of the Atlantic Council that also recommended more NATO troops be sent to Afghanistan.

 

Germany not to send additional troops to Afghanistan

Germany is saying it has no plans to send additional troops to Afghanistan or to move its troops that are already in the country, elsewhere in the country. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said today (Friday, February 1), "Our emphasis will remain on the north, especially in light of an increased threat level there in the northwestern regions where, when international aid organizations and the army move out, the Taliban have been moving in." He said with some 3,200 German troops already in Afghanistan, Germany was doing enough to fulfill its mandate to support the NATO mission. Jung's comments follow media reports that US defense secretary Robert Gates had formally asked Germany to provide additional troop reinforcement to its existing 3,200 troops in the country, particularly helicopter units and paratroopers in the country's restive south.

 

Cold wave kills more than 500 people across Afghanistan

The death toll from the recent cold wave across Afghanistan has reportedly climbed to over 500. Citing figures from Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the UN's Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) is reporting that some 503 people, mostly children and elderly, have died due to heavy snow and other severe winter conditions since December 2007. The UN has confirmed at least 329 deaths in the western provinces of Herat, Badghis, Ghor and Farah. According to reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Afghan and international organizations, UN agencies, NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and local residents have delivered relief items in Herat, Badghis and other affected provinces. The UN World Food Program (WFP) has reportedly distributed over 65 metric tons of mixed food aid to some 6,000 families in five districts in Herat. Additionally, 12,797 metric tons of items have been delivered to neighboring Badghis, where tens of thousands of people are facing a very high risk of food insecurity. Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Herat, Helmand and Kandahar have also been affected by the severe winter. Aid agencies have agreed to provide assistance to some 2,500 families in Maslakh, Shaidai and Minaret camps in Herat. However, plans to provide assistance for thousands of IDPs in Mukhtar and Zherai camps in restive Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where most aid agencies suspended their operations in March 2006 due to insecurity, remain unclear.

Movement

 

2007: UNHCR temporarily suspends the Afghan voluntary repatriation campaign in Pakistan until March 2008 due to seasonal slowdown. (IRIN, Nov-2). Pakistan has reportedly extended the deadline to close Jalozai camp until March 2008. (IRIN, Sep-4). The UNHCR has asked Pakistan to temporarily suspend closure of Jalozai refugee camp in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) that was originally scheduled to be closed on August 31. UNHCR said due to the fast approaching Muslim holy month of Ramadan and winter season, conditions were not conducive for the return of some 100,000 camp residents. UNHCR said any forceful return of these refugees could lead to secondary displacement.

 

Pakistan is to close all Afghan refugee camps by December 2009 and to repatriate all refugees living in the country. UNHCR says it has repatriated over 306,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan so far this year under its voluntary repatriation campaign. (UNHCR, Aug-10)

 

4.2 million refugees have returned to Afghanistan, and 500,000 IDPs returned home since early 2002. Close to 3 million of the refugees returned from Pakistan. 2.6 million Afghans remain in Pakistan, including one million in 74 long-term camps. About 1.5 million Afghans returned from Iran. Taking into account unassisted returns, perhaps 600,000 to 700,000 Afghans remain in Iran—up to 30,000 are in seven camps.

 

Iran deported some 85,000 unregistered refugees to Afghanistan during April 21 - May 14, 2007. Iranian officials say they plan to initially send back 500,000 of over a million illegal refugees in the country. Earlier this week, Iran said it has reached an agreement with the Afghan government to slow down the pace of expulsions for illegal Afghans living in the country.

 

Some 200,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan have returned to their homes under the UN-assisted voluntary Afghan refugee repatriation program since it resumed on March 1, 2007, following a seasonal winter suspension. Pakistani authorities said voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan that are without proof of registration (PoR) ended in April, and refugees remaining in the country without PoR are now considered illegal and subject to government action. Repatriation campaign for Afghan refugees with PoR.

 

2006: UNHCR expects to assist 550,000 returnees—400,000 from Pakistan and 150,000 from Iran. However, so far this year only some 60,000 Afghan refugees have repatriated from Pakistan. Unassisted returns are a factor from Pakistan and have been a major contributor to returns from Iran. The tripartite arrangement among UNHCR-Afghanistan-Pakistan is good through 2006. The UNHCR-Afghanistan-Iran Joint Program has been extended into 2007. Repatriation from Pakistan, halted for the winter, recommenced on March 1. UNHCR assisted nearly 9,000 refugees in returning from Pakistan and over 500 from Iran during March. In April 2006, Pakistan closed two long-term camps in NWFP, and two in Baluchistan Province with 250,000 long-term residents. Refugees in Baluchistan can either return to Afghanistan or relocate to Mohammad Kheil camp near Quetta. Refugees in NWFP are moving to Afghanistan or one of ten camps in NWFP—refugees are pushing for a one-year delay.

 

2005 plans called for 400,000 Afghan refugees to return home from Pakistan and 200,000 from Iran, down from an earlier 350,000 estimated from Iran. 453,000 returned from Pakistan. 67,000 from Iran were assisted and over 210,000 returned on their own to Iran for a total of nearly 280,000, and a combined Pakistan and Iran total of 733,000—close to the original projection.

 

2004 plans were for one million to return. Actual returnees were around 850,000, with 385,000 from Pakistan and 460,000 from Iran, including 80,000 spontaneous returns. Pakistan closed camps in South Waziristan and all new camps, with remaining new refugees going to Mohamed Kheil camp in Baluchistan Province.

Emphasis in 2003 was on repatriation from old camps and cities in Pakistan to rural areas in Afghanistan. 70% of returnees from Pakistan were from cities and 30% from camps. Over a third returned to Kabul, another 10% went to other central provinces, and just over 20% returned to each of the north and east. The Southern region received 6% and the Western region 4%. The 2003 peak months were June and July.

 

In 2002 over 2.3 million Afghan refugees returned with 2 million assisted by UNHCR. UNHCR repatriated 1.53 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan, including 125,000 from Baluchistan and 1.4 million from the North West Frontier Province. 82% were from urban areas; only 3% were from new camps. 265,000 refugees were assisted in returning from Iran; and 10,000 refugees from the central Asian republics.

 

 

Afghanistan Relief Efforts: United Nations Coordination Regions

 

 

Central Region

 

 

East Central Region