Ominous signs of humanitarian crisis unfolding were visible since January as Taliban began annexing Afghan territories leading to forced displacement and a refugee crisis.
@prashanthamine
Mumbai: The ominous signs of a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions unfolding were quite visible since January earlier this year as Taliban began annexing Afghan territories leading to forced displacement and a huge refugee crisis. Amidst increasing lawlessness, terror outfits have begun targeting women, children and healthcare and aid workers. By the end of 2020, there were 10 countries hosting 24.98 lakh Afghan refugees, which includes 8,000 refugees in India. There was nearly 47 percent increase in targeted crimes against women, children, healthcare and aid workers since early January this year.
All this was being well documented by the United Nations Organisation’s (UNO) mission, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) since January 1, 2021. The UNAMA has just recently released its mid-year update on the Afghanistan crisis titled “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict – Mid-Year Update: January 1 to June 30, 2021”.
Also Read: Collapse of Kabul leaves a sinkhole for China and Pakistan
According to the UNAMA report, “Anti-Government Elements were responsible for nearly 64% of the total civilian casualties: 39% by Taliban, nearly 9% by Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIL – KP) and 16% by undetermined Anti-Government Elements. Anti-Government Elements were responsible for 57% of women casualties, child casualties 32%, while 30% of casualties were attributed to Pro-Government Forces during the first six months of this year.
The United Kingdom House of Commons (UKHC) in its research and briefings for its Members of Parliament has been red-flagging the issue. The UK House of Commons Library in its Research Briefing, dated August 25, 2021 titled “Afghanistan: Refugees and displaced people in 2021” too has alluded to the UNAMA findings.
The August 26 attack by the ISIS Khorasan terror outfit, the Haqqani network being propped up within the Taliban Shura (governing and decision-making body), Taliban taking over territories, attacks of civilians and aid workers and the Northern Alliance resistance building up in the north of Afghanistan, all point to the fact that it was all the US and its allies involved in the Operation Enduring Freedom (since 2001) well aware off. An Operation that did not Endure for too long!
According to Statista Infographics, in 2020, ten major countries were hosting 24.98 lakh Afghan refugees. These included – Pakistan 14.38 lakh, Iran 7.80 lakh, Germany 1.48 lakh, Austria 40,000, France 32,000, Sweden 30,000, Australia 11,000, UK 9,000, India 8,000 and US 2,000. These figures exclude around 2.40 lakh asylum seekers abroad as well as the 2.9 million internally displaced Afghans (source UNHCR).
As per the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2020, brought out by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Afghanistan which was ranked 16th in terms of GTI in 2001, has been ranked number one since 2019. In terms of deaths from terrorism in 2011 Afghanistan recorded 1,293 deaths, the figure rose to 5,725 deaths in 2019. In terms of terror incidents, 364 incidents were recorded in 2011, which rose to 1,422 in 2019.
The economic cost of violence in terms of percentage to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the impact in 2007 was minus 30.7% which rose to minus 50.3 in 2019. Nearly 78% Afghans in 2019 said that they felt less secure than they were five years ago.
According to UNAMA report findings, between January 1 and June 30, 2021, the UNAMA documented 5,183 civilian casualties. The total number of civilians killed and injured increased by 47% compared with the first half of 2020.
What is alarming to note here is that the UNAMA report says “Compared with the first six months of 2020, the number of civilian female children (girls) and female adults (women) killed and injured each nearly doubled. Male child (boy) civilian casualties increased by 36%, and adult male (men) civilian casualties increased by 35%”.
As per the UNAMA report civilian casualties which were 4,895 in 2014 peaked to 5,275 in 2016, slightly came down to 5,205 in 2018. Already, in the first six months of this year the figure of civilian casualties is 5,183 (killed and injured). Most of the civilian casualties recorded were in May-June 2021, nearly as many as in the four months combined.
What is worse according to UNAMA, since September 2020 when the Afghan Peace Negotiations began, UNAMA recorded a 46% increase in civilian casualties in comparison to the same nine-month period a year earlier. Most of these killings and injuries were caused mainly by three types of incidents – Non-suicide Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) 38%, Ground engagements (by Taliban and Afghan national army) 33% and Targeted killings 14%.
According to the UNAMA report, the Anti-Government Elements that includes Taliban, ISIL-KP have used pressure-plate IEDs to target school children, ethnic minorities like Hazara ethnicity and Shia Muslims. Three IED blasts took place on May 8, 2020 close in the vicinity of Sayed ul-Shuhada school in Kabul, killing 85 civilians that included 70 girls and women. The 216 civilians injured included 106 girls, 66 women, 24 men and 20 boys.
Attacks on healthcare and aid workers working for UN agencies and other humanitarian agencies like World Health Organisation (WHO), UN World Food Program (UN-WFP), TheInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) have been steadily rising.
Infuriating part of the attacks is that Taliban is now known to charge taxes on medical and other aid being distributed by international aid agencies. There have been 28 such attacks on healthcare workers, facilities were directly targeted in which 12 civilians were killed and 13 injured. A further 24 incidents were reported in which healthcare workers and facilities were indirectly impacted.
Anti-Government Elements have targeted medical aid workers. On June 8, 2021 armed gunmen took 100 humanitarian workers as hostages in Shaikh Jalal village of Baghlan-e-Jadid district of Baghlan province. A few days later on June 15, six male polio vaccinators were shot and killed in separate attacks in Jalalabad, Khogyani and Sukhrod districts of Nangarhar province. Earlier, on March 30, ISIL-KP claimed responsibility for killing three female polio vaccinators.
Majority of the civilian casualties have been caused by the terrorist outfits using pressure-plate IEDs that too placed in crowded public places. The use of indirect weapons – mainly mortars and artillery – continued to cause the majority (more than 60%) of ground engagement civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
The UK House of Commons research briefings paper argues that 1.16 lakh civilians have been killed or injured since 2009. After the UNAMA report was released the UNICEF has warned of a rapid escalation of violations against children. Nearly, 17 million Afghans are food insecure. The UN-WFP has warned that it will run-out of supplies of Wheat flour from October.
Given the fact that the Taliban has control over all the land borders of Afghanistan and that it is now charging taxes on humanitarian aid, airlifting of aid remains the only option. But that too might not be an option after August 31, the revised deadline for withdrawal for US and its allies troops.
The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in Afghanistan has called for US $1.3 billion of funding to support its humanitarian activities in the country. At present it is 39% funded and still US $785 million funding is still required. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) too remains under-funded for its operations in Iran and Pakistan.
The IFRC (Red Crescent) has reported that nearly 80% of Afghanistan is facing acute drought conditions. Nearly, 17 million Afghans are facing food insecurity. Oxfam has termed Afghanistan as the “worlds worst hunger hot spots”.
On August 16, 2021, the UNHCR said that 80% of 2.50 lakh Afghans have fled their homes since the end of May. Nearly 1.20 lakh people, most of whom are women and children have arrived in Kabul. A further 3.5 million Afghans are now internally displaced, states UKHC paper.
The UN-OCHA states that of the 5.51 lakh Afghans who have been displaced from January 1 to August 9, 2021, assistance could only be provided to around 1.85 lakh displaced Afghan nationals due to constraints in providing aid.
Furthermore, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has records of 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees worldwide. In July 2021, nearly 500 to 2,000 Afghan refugees were entering Turkey each week. Turkey is now constructing a 81 Km long border wall in its Van province bordering Iran.
At the request of the US, Uganda, North Macedonia and Albania have agreed to temporarily host 2,750 refugees. Prior to the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, Refugee International has called for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor out of the country to allow safe passage for refugees. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also urged countries to suspend all deportations of Afghans back to Afghanistan and prioritize safe access to civilians who may be at risk from Taliban due to their past work or status.
