March 20, 2009

Overview

Dozens killed in security incidents across Afghanistan this week

Dozens of people, mostly militants, were killed in violence across Afghanistan this week. In the latest violence, nine Afghan policemen, including a district chief, were killed in a clash with Taliban fighters on Friday (March 20). According to provincial police Chief Khalil Aminzada, heavy fighting erupted in the Koshtipa area of northern Jawzjan province when police arrived in the area to search for Taliban. Also Friday, Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed three militants and captured one other during a raid at a bomb-making cell in eastern Logar province. One militant was killed in a similar raid in eastern Kunar province. On Thursday (March 19), 30 Taliban fighters were killed in a clash with Afghan and foreign forces in Gereshk district in southern Helmand province. According to reports, fighting broke out after militants attacked Afghan soldiers on a "combat reconnaissance" mission in the area. The troops called in air strikes that left some 30 militants dead. Also on Thursday, an Australian soldier was killed in south-central Uruzgan (also spelled Oruzgan) province while trying to defuse a makeshift explosive device and an Afghan lawmaker and five of his bodyguards were killed when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Gereshk district in Helmand. Two individuals, who Afghan officials claim were civilians, were killed in a US-led coalition raid in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday. Earlier in the week, three civilians were wounded in a roadside explosion west of the capital, Kabul. US-led coalition forces killed seven militants and detained three others during a raid on a bomb-making cell in Khakrez district in southern Kandahar province early Tuesday (March 17). Five Afghan policemen were killed in Kandahar's Panjwayi district when Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol. An Australian soldier died of wounds suffered in a firefight with Taliban militants in Uruzgan province on Monday (March 16), bringing the overall Australian death toll in Afghanistan to nine. According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, Afghan police killed two insurgents and wounded one other insurgent after they attacked a district center in Khash Rud district in southwestern Nimroz province on Monday. Coalition forces killed 29 militants in Alasai valley north of Kabul on Monday. Coalition forces also killed a known insurgent in Nawzad district southwest of Kabul. Eleven people, including nine policemen, were killed in a suicide bomb attack outside the main police headquarters in the provincial capital, Lashkargah, in Helmand province. Most of those killed were members of a counter-narcotics team that was about to head out on a poppy eradication mission. The explosion also killed two civilians and wounded 29 others, mostly policemen. A suicide bomber and a policeman were killed in a similar attack in western Farah province on Monday. On Sunday (March 15), two British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack while on patrol in Helmand's Sangin district, while four US soldiers were killed in a similar attack in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, in eastern Nangarhar province on the same day. Also on Sunday, Afghan and foreign forces killed five Taliban militants during an operation in Maywand district in Kandahar province. A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded six others, including Kandahar's mayor, on Sunday. Two civilians were killed and 14 others wounded when a suicide bomber unsuccessfully targeted a convoy of foreign forces west of Kabul on Sunday. On Saturday (March 14), a French soldier and five Afghan army troops were killed in a clash with militants in northeastern Kapisa province. On Saturday, six Afghan army troops were wounded in fighting with militants in Herat province.

NATO says 4,000 more troops needed for Afghan elections

NATO is saying it needs some 4,000 troops to provide security for Afghan presidential elections in August. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is visiting Kabul, said on Wednesday (March 18) that he needed an additional four battalions ahead of the Afghan elections scheduled for August 20, several media outlets reported. Speaking at a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier in the day, de Hoop Scheffer said, "Every Afghan citizen should have the right where he or she lives, to go to the polls. If you say free, fair and credible, free means of course, free to vote for whoever you would like to vote for." He added, "Of course, these elections in a certain way... will be a challenge, but we are there to meet this challenge." Karzai told reporters that he would soon make a decision whether to run for re-election. Security continues to be a challenge across Afghanistan. To address worsening security in the country, the US will be sending some 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, bringing its troop level to around 55,000.  Britain is also urging other NATO members to shoulder their fair burden of the Afghan mission.

UN warns unfair Afghan election would fuel political instability

The UN is warning that unfair Afghan elections would fuel political instability and undermine support for democracy in the country. Speaking to the UN Security Council on Thursday, UN special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said opposition fears of an unfair Afghan presidential election in August this year were well-founded, warning, "The result (of a rigged poll) would be prolonged political instability when stability is more than ever required (and) would create doubt in the minds of many Afghans about the value of democratic processes when confidence is needed." He said, "All involved -- the government, the opposition, and the international community -- must understand the costs of a flawed and unfair election process." Eide said Karzai must assure the opposition that the election will be fair. He said he has seen some signs of improvement in a push to reform the police and cut corruption leading to an expected decline in heroin production this year. Commenting on the foreign aid, Eide said as much as US$1 billion has been donated directly to aid organizations, making it difficult to monitor how the aid money is being spent. He said neither the Afghan government nor the UN had any knowledge of how much and for what purpose the aid money is being spent.

Movement

2008: The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) held a press conference in Kabul on Monday (December-15). Nilab Mobarez from the UNAMA Spokesperson’s Office reported that the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation and UNHCR just published the first national IDP profiling report. Findings of the report include that the various conflicts and natural disasters in Afghanistan in the last decade have uprooted about 1.2 million people. Currently, about 235,000 people are estimated to be displaced within Afghanistan. According to the report, aid agencies and the Afghan government must focus on local integration to help bring long-term displacement to an end. (UNAMA, December-15)

According to UNHCR, fewer Afghan refugees are returning home, while more people are leaving the country for better jobs and security, a trend that may increase regional tension. More than 5 million of 8 million Afghan refugees have returned home since 2002, but the number of those returning is falling, according to UNHCR. Amid pressure from Iran and Pakistan to send home millions of refugees, representatives from UNHCR, about 30 countries and international organizations met in Kabul in mid-November to mobilize support for the sustained return and reintegration of the refugees. (AFP, BBC, Nov-19)

UNHCR said in the first week of October that some 251,800 registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran had returned to their homes so far in 2008. Most of those repatriated (248,951) under the UN-assisted voluntary repatriation campaign came from Pakistan, while Iran accounted for 2,929 returns. (UNHCR, Oct-7)

Some 2,800 Pakistani families crossed the border into northeastern Afghanistan over the past two months to escape fighting between militants and Pakistani security forces in Bajur region.  Most of the people are reportedly in Kunar province.  (AFP, Sept-19)

UNHCR is asking Pakistan to revise its Afghan refugee repatriation plan, as the current plan to repatriate some 2.4 million refugees by the end of next year (2009) is “unworkable” due to persistent insecurity and lack of economic opportunities.  (BBC, Apr-18).

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 percent of returnees from Pakistan were from cities and 30 percent from camps. Over a third returned to Kabul, another 10 percent went to other central provinces, and just over 20 percent returned to each of the north and east.  The Southern region received 6 percent and the Western region 4 percent. 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 percent were from urban areas; only 3 percent 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

Location	Central Region
Coordination
Population
IDP Movement	No New Information
Food	There have been at least six attacks on World Food Program (WFP) food convoys in 2008, and WFP has temporarily suspended food delivery to Daikundi province.(IRIN, May-28)
Health	No New Information
NFIs -Shelter	No New Information IOM, UNICEF, UNOCHA, & OXFAM
Water & Sanitation	No New Information UNICEF
Security	In Uruzgan province, US-led soldiers and Afghan police killed five insurgents while on patrol in Tirin Kot district on Saturday (March 7). (Reuters, Mar-8) On Thursday (March 19), an Australian soldier was killed in south-central Uruzgan (also spelled Oruzgan) province while trying to defuse a make-shift explosive device.  (CNN, Mar-20)
Comments	No New Information

East Central Region

Location	East Central Region
Coordination	UNHCR
Population
IDP Movement	The Afghan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) agreed to work together towards creating sustainable livelihoods for 2,000 recent Afghan returnees from neighboring countries. About 640,000 Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year. (IOM, Dec-16)
Food	The German Federal Foreign Office is giving another US$1.3 million (1 million Euros) to the UN World Food Program (WFP) to provide basic necessities to people in particularly remote areas of Afghanistan during the winter. Germany’s winter aid for Afghanistan amounts to US$8.45 million (6.5 million Euros). (Government of Germany, Dec-4) The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on December 9 that increasing attacks on food convoys by insurgents are leading to a food crisis. The attacks force convoys to take longer routes, thus increasing the cost of transportation and the food itself. Most food prices are already far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Aid agencies fear that the food crisis could exacerbate child malnutrition throughout the country. (UNICEF, Dec-9)
Health	No New Information UNICEF, CARITAS, MSF, IFRC, IRC, ICRC
Non-Food Items - Shelter	No New Information UNHCR, ACTED, MSF, IRC, ICRC, IOM
Security	Two civilians were killed and 14 others wounded when a suicide bomber unsuccessfully targeted a convoy of foreign forces west of Kabul on Sunday (March 15). (AP, Mar-15) NATO-led forces killed 29 militants in Alasai valley north of Kabul on Monday (March 16). (Reuters, Mar-18) Three civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb attack west of Kabul on Wednesday (March 18). (Reuters, Mar-18)
Water & Sanitation	An agreement has been signed between the UNHCR and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) to provide safe drinking water for Afghan returnees from Pakistan and Iran, as well as IDPs.  (UNHCR, Sep. 24) ICRC
Comments	NATO entered talks with Afghanistan’s northern neighbors to allow the shipment of more supplies through those countries. The move comes as Taliban attacks on NATO supply lines through Pakistan increase and the local transport association suspended any convoys to Afghanistan beginning December-15. At least 75 percent of supplies to foreign troops travels through Pakistan. (BBC, Dec-15)

Eastern Region

Location	Eastern Region
Coordination	UNHCR, International Islamic Relief Organization;
Population
IDP Movement	UNHCR
Food	NATO-led ISAF PRT transported water pipes for a nearly seven-mile-long planned water supply project in Baghlan province.  (NATO, Aug-23) IRC
Health	No New Information
Non-Food Items - Shelter	No New Information CWS, UNICEF
Security	Four US soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, in Nangarhar province on Sunday (March 15). (BBC, Mar-16) US-led coalition forces claim to have killed two militants during a raid aimed at an al-Qaeda bomb-making cell in Nari Kot district in Nangarhar on Thursday (March 19). Afghan officials claim the victims were civilians. (Reuters, Mar. 19) On Friday (March 20), Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed three militants and captured one other during a raid at a bomb-making cell in Logar province.  One militant was killed in a similar raid in Kunar province. (AP, Mar-20)
Water & Sanitation	CARITAS; ICRC, UNICEF
Comments	No New Information

Northeastern Region

Location	Northeastern Region
Coordination
Population
Movement IDPs	9,000 active IDPs in North and Northeast
Food	No New Information
Health	Afghan officials and the medical team assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Panjshir province coordinated with local leaders in two districts to augment health care to 563 people. (GoUSA, Oct. 23) WHO, Merlin, UNICEF, MSF; ICRC
Non-Food Items (NFIs) -Shelter	UNICEF, ACTED, Refugees Int’l, Mercy Corps
Security	On Saturday (March 14), a French soldier and five Afghan army troops were killed in a clash with militants in Kapisa province.  (BBC, Mar-15)
Water & Sanitation	No New Information
Comments	The Mine Detection Center (MDC), an Afghan NGO, has cleared 1 million square meters of landmines in Afghanistan’s northeastern region since January. According to UNAMA, 165 people have been killed and more than 1100 people have been injured in mine accidents in the four northeastern provinces of Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan. (UNAMA, Oct-21)

Northern Region

Location	Northern Region
Coordination	UNHCR, IOM
Population	9,000 active IDPs in North and Northeast; 60,000 IDPs from North elsewhere in country.
Movement IDPs	No New Information IOM
Food	No New Information
Health	No New Information MSF, ICRC, UNICEF
NFIs –Shelter	No New Information IOM, ACTED, Mercy Corps
Security	Nine Afghan policemen, including a district chief, were killed in a clash with Taliban fighters on Friday (March 20) in the Koshtipa area of Jawzjan province. (AFP, Mar-20)
Water & Sanitation	No New Information UNICEF, ICRC, DACAAR
Comments	The European Commission’s Humanitarian aid Office and the NGO ActionAid launched a cash for work program in northern Afghanistan on October 22 aimed at providing about 5,000 families with enough food to cover half of their daily requirements through the winter. The program is active in 40 villages in Jawzjan Province’s Darzab and Qushtepa districts, and in Balkh province’s Dawlatabad and Kaldar districts. (ActionAid, Oct-22)

Southern Region

Location	Southern Region
Coordination	UNHCR
Population
Movement of IDPs	Intense military operations against Afghan insurgents in southern Helmand province, especially in Musa Qala district, have caused hundreds of families to flee their homes to neighboring districts and the provincial capital, Lashkargah. (IRIN, Dec-6)
Food	No New Information UNICEF; Mercy Corps; CARITAS; WFP
Health	NATO reported on December-14 that hundreds of people received medical care and humanitarian assistance in Zabul province. Members of the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), the Afghan Army and coalition forces participated in the operation. (NATO, Dec-14) Members of the Zabul PRT and of the Kentucky Army National Guard delivered four pre-fabricated medical containers to the Atgar district center. The delivery will help to improve the health care capacity in the province that has only one health care provider so far. (NATO, Dec-6)
NFIs - Shelter	No New Information UNHCR, Mercy Corps
Security	On Sunday (March 15), two British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack while on patrol in Helmand's Sangin district. (BBC, Mar-16) On Sunday, Afghan and foreign forces killed five Taliban militants during an operation in Maywand district in Kandahar. (Xinhua, BBC, Mar-15) A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded six others, including Kandahar's mayor, on Sunday. (Xinhua, BBC, Mar-15) An Australian soldier died of wounds suffered in a firefight with Taliban militants in Uruzgan province on Monday (March 16), bringing the overall Australian death toll in Afghanistan to nine. (AP, Mar-17) According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, Afghan police killed two insurgents and wounded one other insurgent after they attacked a district center in Khash Rud district in Nimroz province on Monday. (Reuters, Mar-17) On Monday, 11 people, including nine policemen, were killed in a suicide bomb attack outside the main police headquarters in the provincial capital, Lashkargah, in Helmand province. Most of those killed were members of a counter-narcotics team that was about to head out on a poppy eradication mission.  The explosion also killed two civilians and wounded 29 others, mostly policemen. (IHT, BBC, Mar-16) US-led coalition forces killed seven militants and detained three others during a raid on a bomb-making cell in Khakrez district in Kandahar province early Tuesday (March 17). (AP, Mar-17) Five Afghan policemen were killed in Kandahar's Panjwayi district when Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol on Tuesday. (AP, Mar-17) On Thursday (March 19), 30 Taliban fighters were killed in a clash with Afghan and foreign forces in Gereshk district in Helmand. (AP, Mar-19)  On Thursday, an Australian soldier was killed in Uruzgan (also spelled Oruzgan) province while trying to defuse a makeshift explosive device. (CNN, Mar-19) An Afghan lawmaker and five of his bodyguards were killed when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Gereshk district in Helmand on Thursday. (AFP, Mar-19)
Water & Sanitation	No New Information UNICEF
Comments	British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on December-13, that Britain will help Afghanistan with upcoming elections and has also offered to set up a task force to fight corruption. Britain plans to give Afghanistan US$10 million to register voters for next year’s elections. (CNN, Dec-15) On December-19 Tooryalai Wesa, an Afghan-Canadian academic, accepted the post of governor in the volatile southern province of Kandahar. He will be officially sworn in on December-20. (AP, Dec-19)

Southern Region IDP camps

Location	Zhare Dasht - South of Kandahar – 6 camps
Type	IDP Camp
Coordination	UNHCR
Camp Capacity	30,000; expandable to 60,000
Population	125,000 IDPs in south; 48,500 at Zhare Dasht
Movement IDP	No New Information
Food	No New Information WFP
Health	No New Information UNICEF, MSF
NFIs – Shelter	No New Information
Security	No New Information
Water & Sanitation	No New Information UNICEF
Comments	Support for Spin Boldak camps terminated in 2004.

Western Region

Location	Western Region
Coordination	UNHCR; ICMC
Population	No New Information
Movement IDPs	12,000 IDPs, mostly in Maslakh camp IOM
Food	No New Information IRC, CARITAS, UNICEF, World Vision, IOM, Action Contre la Faim; WFP
Health	At least three people were killed in an outbreak of highly contagious Viral Hemorrhagic Fever in Herat city that was first reported on August 25, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Officials confirmed 10 suspected cases as of August 27 and said most of the infected were butchers, shepherds or others involved with animals. The patients were put in quarantine. (IRIN, Aug-27)
Non-Food Items (NFIs) – Shelter	No New Information
Security	On Saturday (March 14), six Afghan army troops were wounded in fighting with militants in Herat province. (Reuters, Mar-14) A suicide bomber and a policeman were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Farah province on Monday (March 16). Four other civilians were wounded. (Xinhua, Mar-16)
Water & Sanitation	No New Information UNICEF
Comments	The International Organization for Migration (IOM) inaugurated an upgraded Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) radio station and a media center in Qal-i-Naw district in the province of Badghis. IOM installed an AM transmitter and studio, with funding from the Spanish government. The new equipment has allowed the station to broadcast to every district in the province. (IOM, Oct. 24)

Refugee Camps in Pakistan

Location	Long-term camps in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), NWFP, Baluchistan Province, and by capital, Islamabad; Mohamed Kheil 1 & 2 camps (85 km southwest of Quetta)
Type	Refugee Camps
Coordination	Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR on August 2 extended the tripartite agreement governing the voluntary repatriation of registered Afghans from Pakistan through December 2009. The agreement provides a legal and operational framework for the process. To date, more than 3 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan under the voluntary repatriation program since 2002. This year, more than 300,000 Afghans have returned. (UNHCR, GOP, Aug-2)
Camp Capacity	About one million mostly long term Afghans in 74 camps—down from about 200 camps.
Population	2.05 million registered Afghans remaining in Pakistan; 63 camps in NWFP, 12 in Baluchistan; and one million elsewhere; Many occupants are long-term residents or were born in Pakistan; (UNHCR, Aug-2) Jungle Pir Alizai (Balochistan): 36,000, originally scheduled to close June 15. Kacha Gari (NWFP): original population of 64,811, officially closed July 26 – 37,000 repatriated. (UNHCR, July-27) Jalozai (NWFP): 109,934, originally scheduled to close August 31.  UNHCR on August 22 requested Pakistan to temporarily suspend the camp’s closure due to insufficient time for some 100,000 people to move and settle into new places in the face of the fast approaching Ramadan and winter season. (UNHCR, Aug-22)  The deadline was extended to April 15 due to the impending winter. According to IRIN, at least 352 have left Jalozai so far in March.  (IRIN, Mar-20) Girdi Jungle (Balochistan): 17,844, scheduled to close August 31. (IRIN, June-14)
Refugee Movement	No New Information
Food	No New Information WFP, CRS, ARC
Health	No New Information UNICEF, MSF
Non-Food Items (NFIs) - Shelter	No New Information CRS
Security	No New Information
Water & Sanitation	No New Information IFRC, MDM
Comments	No New Information