June 22, 2007

Overview

NATO airstrike in Afghanistan's restive south kills 25 civilians

A NATO-led airstrike in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province overnight killed 25 civilians and some 20 suspected Taliban militants. According to provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the strike took place Thursday (June 21) night, some 9 miles (14 kilometers) northeast of Gereshk district, as part of a joint military operation by foreign and Afghan forces against Taliban militants. Andiwal told the media that nine women and three children were among those killed in the raid. He said several houses in several small villages were hit by the airstrike. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Smith, spokesman for NATO said, "We are concerned about reports that some civilians may have lost their lives during the attack," adding that insurgents were to blame for the casualties as they put civilians at risk by first launching an attack on the NATO-led forces from an area where civilians were present. The incident comes amid growing criticism of foreign forces in Afghanistan over civilian deaths that, according to many experts, is contributing to the anger and frustration of the Afghan people. They are reportedly getting increasingly disenchanted with the Afghan government and the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan.

NGO urges security forces in Afghanistan to respect international humanitarian law as civilian casualties mount

The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), an umbrella organization representing 97 national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Afghanistan, is urging Afghan and foreign security forces in the country to "uphold international humanitarian and human rights law and to ensure the protection of civilian life." In a statement issued on Tuesday (June 19), ACBAR said it condemns the actions of all armed groups that cause civilian casualties, including summary executions, suicide bombs, roadside bombs and the use of civilian locations to launch attacks. The statement specifically condemned in strongest terms the military operations and force protection measures carried out by international military forces in which disproportionate or indiscriminate use of force resulted in civilian casualties. The statement also noted that such operations were frequently carried out by US-led coalition forces often operating outside of the NATO command. According to the statement, since the beginning of the year, international and Afghan forces have been responsible for at least 230 civilian deaths, including at least 60 women and children. The statement is calling for better measures and mechanisms to be put in place to avert civilian casualties, and to allow informed decision-making before any military actions are carried out. It calls on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) to undertake comprehensive investigations into civilian casualties and human rights abuses in coordination with relevant actors. The statement also urges NATO troop-contributing nations to establish common standards for operations.

UN food agency says suspension of food deliveries will impact vulnerable Afghans

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said yesterday (Thursday, June 21) that the recent suspension of its food aid deliveries will impact vulnerable Afghans in the country's volatile south and west. Richard Corsino, WFP's director in Afghanistan, said today that the WFP expected to run out of food for its programs in Afghanistan's seven southern and western provinces over the next few weeks. He said food deliveries to these provinces were halted about four weeks ago following a series of attacks on its food convoys in which some 600 tons of wheat and cooking oil worth US$400,000 were lost. He said that since last June (2006), there had been 25 incidents in which 85 of its trucks were attacked, set ablaze or looted compared to no such incidents in the first half of 2006. Corsino said, "The biggest thing we are concerned about is if we can't resume, we can't meet our obligation," adding that it would make an already very difficult life for many vulnerable people much more difficult. He said WFP does not believe people will starve or migrate because of the halted food deliveries, but added that they may be forced to sell their possessions. He did not say when the agency planned to resume its suspended operations.

Movement

2007 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 say voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan that are without proof of registration (PoR) ended this week (April 15), 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 will close 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

Location	Central Region
Coordination
Population	An avalanche in the Murgab area in central Ghor killed at least 16 people. On Monday (March 19) floods killed 30 people in Uruzgan province.
IDP Movement
Food
Health	Typhoid fever has claimed five lives and infected some 200 others over the past 10 days in the Charsada district of the country's central Ghor province. (Feb. 15, People’s Daily Online)
NFIs -Shelter	IOM, UNICEF, UNOCHA, & OXFAM
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Security	New Zealand PRT in Bamiyan In Uruzgan (Oruzgan) province, nine civilians and a Dutch soldier were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a Dutch NATO convoy in the provincial capital of Tirin Kot on Friday (June 15). 11 other civilians were injured. (June 15, BBC)
Comments

East Central Region

Location	East Central Region
Coordination	UNHCR
Population
IDP Movement	UN; Government encouraging refugees to return to home provinces to limit burden on Kabul—government land distribution program only in province of origin;
Food	ISAF troops carried out a two-day food donation near the village of Gulbagh in Chahar Asiab district, (Feb. 11, NATO) Florida state guards deliver 2,000 blankets, 1,000 soccer balls and basic school supplies for hundreds of orphaned children in Kabul. (USG, Nov. 30). IRC, Action Contra la Faim; WFP;
Health	Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Liu Jian on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the US$15.69 million China-funded new main Jamhuriat Hospital building in Afghan capital Kabul. (Xinhua, Nov. 2) UNICEF, CARITAS, MSF, IFRC, IRC, ICRC; Kabul is home to the world’s worst outbreak of leishmaniasis, thought to have spread to hundreds of thousands of people. The sandflies that spread the parasites causing the disease are present in all Afghan cities, but more prominently in poor, crowded areas where they breed on waste land and in trash. (Reuters, May 7)
Non-Food Items - Shelter	UNHCR, ACTED, MSF, IRC, ICRC, IOM;
Security	In Logar province, two Afghan girls were killed and six others wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire outside a girls’ school on Tuesday (June 12). (Reuters, June 12)
Water & Sanitation	ICRC;
Comments	Floods triggered by spring rains continue to affect districts in Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar provinces. Floods have killed 13 people in Kunar and another eight in Laghman. Nearly 3,000 people have been affected by the floods in these provinces. (OCHA, Apr. 5)

Eastern Region

Location	Eastern Region
Coordination	UNHCR, International Islamic Relief Organization;
Population
IDP Movement	UNHCR
Food	IRC;
Health	FAO confirmed cases of the H5N1 type of bird flu in poultry in the eastern city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province and in Sawki district in Kunar province. (FAO, Feb. 26) Jalalabad PRT distributed hygiene kits, first-aid kits, tarps, school kits, and student kits to the Char Bagh Girls Middle School in Sirjkh Rod District, in Nangarhar province. (NATO, Feb. 11)
Non-Food Items - Shelter	CWS, UNICEF
Security	In Nangarhar province, US-led forces killed seven Afghan policemen and injured five others in a friendly fire incident at a remote checkpoint in Khogyani district. (BBC, June 12)
Water & Sanitation	CARITAS; ICRC, UNICEF
Comments	UN relief agencies facing logistical problems delivering aid to flood-affected people in Nuristan. (IRIN, Apr. 9) Nuristan PRT in Kala Gush dedicated the newly completed Nurgram Ministry of Justice building, conducted medical outreach in Dareng village and inspected the ongoing construction of a school in Kowtalay village. (Feb. 9, NATO)

Northeastern Region

Location	Northeastern Region
Coordination
Population	9,000 active IDPs in North and Northeast
Movement IDPs
Food
Health	WHO, Merlin, UNICEF, MSF; ICRC
Non-Food Items (NFIs) -Shelter	UNICEF, ACTED, Refugees Int’l, Mercy Corps
Security	As many as 10 Afghan policemen were killed and dozens of others wounded in a suicide bomb attack in Kunduz city. (BBC, AP, April 16) NATO/German PRT in Faizabad
Water & Sanitation
Comments	At least 24 people were killed in flash floods caused by torrential rains in northeastern Badakhshan province on May 15. (IRIN, May 16)

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	IOM
Food
Health	MSF, ICRC, UNICEF;
NFIs –Shelter	IOM, ACTED, Mercy Corps
Security	Zakia Zaki, a female Afghan radio journalist, was shot dead at her house in northern Parwan province on Tuesday (June 5) (AP, BBC, June 6)
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF, ICRC, DACAAR
Comments

Southern Region

Location	Southern Region
Coordination	UNHCR
Population	IFRC says that flash floods and avalanches in early March have affected 2,200 families in Helmand/Sangreen Grishk, Musa Qala, and Nowzad districts; and 400 families in Uruzgan/Dehraud district. (IFRC, March 23).
Movement of IDPs
Food	ISAF troops delivered some eight tons of food and non-food items and medical supplies to a village near Kandahar. (NATO, Mar. 28) UNICEF; Mercy Corps; CARITAS; WFP; According to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) of some 1,500 families displaced by fighting near Musa Qala, only some 300 had received assistance from UNICEF. The WFP and ARCS. (UNOCHA, Feb. 21) MRRD, in conjunction with the WFP, plans to distribute 5,820 metric tons of food during 2007 to 50,820 food insecure families (304,920 individuals) under a food-for-work scheme. (GOA, Feb.22)
Health	ICRC is considering the Afghan government’s request to run a hospital in Helmand province that was formerly run by the Italian NGO, Emergency. (BBC, Wednesday, June 6) Persistent insecurity in southern Afghanistan continues to hamper polio vaccination campaigns in Uruzgan and other provinces in the south. (UNOCHA, Mar. 15)
NFIs - Shelter	UNHCR, Mercy Corps;
Security	An overnight NATO-led airstrike in Gereshk district in Helmand killed 25 civilians and 20 suspected Taliban militants. (BBC, ABC, June 22) Three Canadian soldiers on the NATO-led ISAF were killed in Nad Ali district in Helmand on Wednesday (June 20) when their vehicle was struck by a remote-controlled bomb. (BBC, AP, June 20) Twenty-one suspected Taliban fighters were killed in a NATO-led airstrike in Shari district in Kandahar. (ABC, BBC, June 20). Two Afghan guards were killed in an ambush on the Kabul-Kandahar road in southern Zabul province (ABC, BBC, June 20) Unidentified gunmen shot and killed three people at a mosque wounding four others in Khost on Tuesday (June 19). (ABC, BBC, June 20) Several civilians, including seven children, were killed in an airstrike against a suspected terrorist hideout in southeastern Paktika province on Sunday (June 17). (ABC, BBC, June 19). Clashes between security forces and Taliban insurgents in southern Uruzgan province this week killed 60 civilians and 50 insurgents. (Reuters, BBC, June 18)
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Comments	Helmand, Uruzgan, Ghazni and Daikundi provinces continue to be affected by floods. (OCHA, Apr. 6)

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	An estimated
Food	WFP
Health	UNICEF, MSF;
NFIs - Shelter
Security	Taliban militants released four kidnapped Afghan health workers in Helmand province in exchange for the body of Taliban leader, Mullah Dadullah – one other hostage was beheaded. (Reuters, Thursday, June 7) At least two policemen were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Kandahar and another policeman was killed in a similar incident in Zabul on Thursday (June 7). (BBC, June 8) At least 30 Taliban fighters were killed when US-led helicopter gunships sank their boat on the Helmand River on Tuesday (June 5) (AP, June 5) As many as 60 suspected Taliban fighters were killed on Saturday (June 2) when their makeshift boat sank on the Helmand River. (AP, BBC, June 4) Suspected Taliban militants stormed into the house of a police commander in Ghazni, killing his wife, two sons and two nephews. (AP, June 1)
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Comments	Support for Spin Boldak camps terminated in 2004.

Western Region

Location	Western Region
Coordination	UNHCR; ICMC
Population	According to the IFRC, flash floods and avalanches in early March have affected some 200 families in Herat city; 918 families in Gulran district; 35 families in Cheshte Sharif district; 150 families in Shindand district, 6,500 families in Badghis/Jawand and Murghab districts, and 20 families in Gour district. (IFRC, March 23) 12,000 IDPs, mostly in Maslakh camp
Movement IDPs	IOM
Food	WFP has sent 127 tons of food assistance for some 3,515 flood-affected families in Badghis province. (OCHA, Nov. 23) IRC, CARITAS, UNICEF, World Vision, IOM, Action Contre la Faim; WFP;
Health
Non-Food Items (NFIs) – Shelter	UNHCR sent 50 tents, 1,000 blankets, 500 plastic sheets, 20 jerry cans and 500 lanterns for flood victims in Badghis. (OCHA, Nov. 23) UNHCR, Iranian Red Crescent, UNICEF, IOM, Ockenden Int’l, MSF, IMC;
Security	On Wednesday (May 30), 10 suspected Taliban insurgents were killed and another 15 wounded in a clash with Afghan security forces in Pusht Road district in western Farah province. (CNN, AP, May 30) At least 14 suspected Taliban militants were killed in NATO and US-led coalition airstrikes in Bakwa district in western Farah province on Thursday (May 17). (AP, May 18)
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Comments	Provinces of Herat, Badghis and Ghor have also been affected by the floods. (OCHA, Apr. 6)

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