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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Kandahar Operation Needs Humanitarian Vigilance

Kabul, 16 March 2010: As NATO and Afghan forces plan to conduct a major military operation in Kandahar Province in the coming months, ARM calls on UN agencies and other aid organizations to act vigilantly and draw up appropriate humanitarian response planning which should mitigate the most likely humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

US military officials have confirmed a large-scale counter-insurgency operation will be launched in Kandahar Province in the foreseeable future.

While the operation is described a necessity for the delivery of security, good governance and essential services to people in insecure and inaccessible parts of Kandahar Province, there seems to be little preparations to promptly respond to the conflict's potential humanitarian consequences.

ARM is particularly concerned about the recent imposition of security level IV by the UN in southern Afghanistan which will reduce UN staff numbers on the ground and will further weaken local response capacity.

UN agencies acted passively in responding to tens of thousands of families that were displaced by Operation Moshtarak in Helmand Province in February.

Although NATO and Afghan officials were publically talking about Operation Moshtarak well before it was launched on 13 February, the UN-led humanitarian community was largely dormant and unprepared to swiftly respond to the needs of conflict-affected civilian people. As a result the confused and terrified people of Marja and Nad Ali fled to several directions - in and outside Helmand - because they were not advised where assistance and protection services were available.

The 3,800 displaced families that flocked to Lashkargah city were received by an unprepared, disorganized and extremely weak government response commission. Having no presence in Helmand due to security concerns, UN agencies were only able to offer some aid from their local stockpiles. No camp or temporary settlement was set up for the displaced families apparently because all aid actors feared that could lead to an undesirable protracted emergency.

A lot of the displaced people in Lashkargah bitterly complained about lack of aid and accused officials of bias and corruption in aid provision, which arguably resulted due to lack of appropriate monitoring and oversight.

"While we call on all warring parties to demonstrate greater respect to civilian lives we also request the UN and other aid agencies to ensure the miseries of conflict-affected people would not be compounded by a lack of life-saving assistance and protection," said Ajmal Samadi, director of ARM.

The UN must seek reliable information from NATO and Afghan Government about the location, scale and duration of major counter-insurgency operations and help draw appropriate response planning. UN agencies are generously funded by donors and have far more resources and expertise than government aid bodies and are therefore expected to do more.

Afghanistan is an insecure environment for aid work and a number of aid workers, mostly Afghans, were killed, kidnapped and intimidated in 2009. However, the brutalities of a few criminals must not deter humanitarian workers in their resolve to alleviate hanger, diseases and homelessness in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Government must also assume more responsibilities in disasters' management and humanitarian response activities. Only the UN and other foreign aid agencies must not and cannot be relied upon to avert crises and alleviate human sufferings.

"The people of Kandahar should not be left alone in the hard days and nights of the forthcoming military operation. If conflict would force people out of their homes they should have access to shelter, food, medicine, drinking water and other essential services," said Samadi.

Because agriculture is the main source of livelihood in rural Kandahar, NATO and Afghan forces should spare no efforts in minimizing the impacts of conflict on fields, crops, trees and overall farming.

In districts where military operations will be conducted civilian people should be informed in advance. People should know where they could seek temporary shelter and where assistance will be available for them.