How aid organizations want to continue working in Afghanistan

Stefan Recker would have liked to stay. The Taliban’s return to power should not prevent him. He lived in Afghanistan for around 15 years and is head of the Caritas International office in Kabul. His employer finally ordered him back to Germany. On Tuesday he left the military part of the airport, like so many international aid workers in the country.

“As a foreigner, I expose the office much more. That automatically puts other people at risk, ”said Recker in an interview with Tagesspiegel. Caritas International has 27 employees in Afghanistan, 23 in Kabul and four in the highlands. There are also women on the team. “Our Afghan employees are afraid,” says Recker. Now they are working to ensure their safety.

While the Bundeswehr and the military of other countries continue to fly people out of the country, the question has long arisen as to what consequences the return of the Taliban will have for the humanitarian situation of the remaining Afghans. More than 18 million people are said to be hungry and around half of the population are said to be dependent on humanitarian aid. Whether international aid organizations stay in the country and continue their work without any changes quickly affects the suffering of the people.

“The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is rapidly worsening”

The organizations know that. “The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is rapidly worsening,” the UN Emergency Aid Office (OCHA) recently described the situation. As early as the spring, the UN estimated the need for donations for Afghanistan at almost 1.3 billion dollars. The demand will even increase because the harvests are bad and oil, wheat, rice and sugar have become unaffordable for many people, reported the UN Emergency Relief Office. While Germany and Finland announced on Tuesday that they would end development aid for Afghanistan for the time being, the EU foreign affairs officer, Josep Borrell, spoke out in favor of increasing at least humanitarian aid to help those in need.

The events of the past week did not leave the work of the organizations unscathed. For German Welthungerhilfe, for example, there are usually 173 local employees and four internationals working in the country; in the regions they are in constant contact with the population and local community representatives. The offices are currently closed, as reported by Welthungerhilfe. German employees are also currently not in the country. “But the local staff will be back to work as soon as possible.”

As soon as the security situation allows, the international colleagues should also return to the country. A spokeswoman also announced: “Of course we need security guarantees for our employees as well as unimpeded access to the project areas.” The situation is too confusing to be able to assess it conclusively.

“The Taliban are not a homogeneous group”

The Oxfam leadership is similarly cautious. 128 employees, 80 in Kabul and 48 in Herat. 11 of them are women. The internationals have since left the country. “We are currently working in more than 40 districts in four provinces and thus reaching more than 50,000 people. “The project work has been temporarily suspended due to the security situation and the lack of accessibility of the corresponding areas,” Oxfam announced on request.

“The Taliban have publicly declared that aid organizations should stay in the country and that there will be no retaliation – it is to be hoped that they will adhere to them,” says Caritas man Recker. But he also gives indications of what makes assessing the situation so difficult for organizations: “There are no outspoken threats against international aid workers – but the Taliban are not a homogeneous group either. So the current situation is difficult to assess. ”

The World Food Program wants to expand its programs

Nevertheless, the United Nations confirmed early on that it wanted to stay in the country. Although some of his UN employees have been temporarily transferred, the majority of the humanitarian personnel remain in Afghanistan and they want to continue helping millions of people, it said on Tuesday. The UN World Food Program (WFP), which has been in Afghanistan since 1963, wants to stay that way. “We want to continue and even expand our programs in the future,” the WFP announced on request. “That is now more important than ever, especially against the background of increasing humanitarian need through conflict, hunger and displacement. Droughts and the effects of the pandemic are further exacerbating the situation. ”

According to its own information, despite the current uncertainty, the WFP has hundreds of employees across the country in several offices, both national and international. 5.5 million people were reached this year. The distribution points are working, the teams are on the street, registering those in need in the Kabul area. The safety of the staff is the top priority. “But as long as it is safe enough and we can reach people with life-saving aid, we are determined to continue to stand by the side of the Afghan people,” said a spokesman.

This is how the UN emergency aid agency OCHA will remain. 16 million people are to be reached through schools and clinics. “The emergency community is determined to stay and provide,” it says.

Work in the women’s field remains questionable

There are still sensitive questions. How, for example, work in the women’s area will be possible, or carried out by female employees, is open. “You will have to exchange ideas with the Taliban again and again,” says Caritas man Recker. In addition to adult education, drug addiction and emergency aid for internally displaced persons, Caritas projects in the country also concern mother-child health.

In fact, the return of the Taliban could have serious consequences, especially for women in the country. While the Taliban announced that women could continue to go to school and work, this was not possible during their previous government between 1996 and 2001. Women reported that some of them have not left the house since the Taliban came to power, and mothers fear that their daughters will be forced to marry.

The organization “Doctors Without Borders” (MSF), for example, looks after the fight against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and Covid-19, above all, high-risk pregnancies, births and young children – and the organization wants to stay in the country. The Herat, Kandahar, Khost, Kunduz and Lashkar Gah locations are still in operation, the organization writes on Twitter. In Herat, 555 patients were treated in the past week. Tuberculosis patients are now often treated remotely via video or telephone calls and put on their medication.

The International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) is also heavily involved. Although there was no fighting in Kabul, thousands of people were injured in other cities such as Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat. “Many of them will need long-term care,” the Red Cross predicts. In the first two weeks of August alone, the Red Cross cared for 7,600 people who had suffered gunshot wounds.

After the regime change in Afghanistan, the homepage of UN Women was temporarily unavailable. The organization did not want to comment on whether this was done for security reasons. On Friday she finally announced publicly that girls’ and women’s rights in Afghanistan must be protected. “We are following the latest developments with great concern,” it says on the page. UN Women wants to remain present in the country and continue collaborations with local partners.

Many international forces want to go back as soon as possible. Stefan Recker, head of Caritas International’s Kabul office, plans to be back in Afghanistan at the beginning of September. “I’d rather fly back today than tomorrow,” says Recker.