June 29, 2007

Overview

US-led coalition raid leaves four Afghan civilians dead

Four members of the same family were killed today (Friday, June 29) in a US-led coalition raid on a suspected militant hideout in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. According to Lal Gul, the head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), those killed in the raid included an 85-year-old man, two of his sons and a grandson. Speaking to Reuters, Gul said the raid took place during the pre-dawn hours in Khogiani district near the foothills of the provincial capital Jalalabad. He said all those killed were “innocent civilians.” Gul said coalition forces raided several other houses in the area and arrested 15 civilians. A provincial official reportedly confirmed Gul’s accounts. Contrary to the claims, US-led coalition forces said that based on credible intelligence, coalition forces acted against three compounds suspected of harboring Taliban militants who had previously targeted Afghan and coalition forces. A coalition statement said troops had shot and killed militants, arrested sixteen others and seized weapons from the raided compounds. Civilian casualties in NATO and US-led coalition operations have been a major cause of concern. According to some experts, civilian casualties in military-led operations are alienating the Afghan public from the Afghan government and foreign security forces in the country. Despite repeated calls by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the United Nations for better coordination to avoid civilian casualties, no letup in civilian casualties has been seen. Since the beginning of this year, more than 300 civilians have been reportedly killed in military operations led by foreign forces.

Suicide car bomb attack in Afghan capital kills two foreign security guards

Two contractors working for a private US security company were killed and several others wounded in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday (June 28) when a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of security contractors. The attack took place on the eastern outskirts of Kabul as the convoy was heading for Pul-e-Charkhi prison. The dead included a US civilian and a Nepalese security guard. Zabiullah Mujaheed, a purported Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack. This was the third deadly attack in less than two weeks. Earlier this month (June 17), a bomb attack on a bus carrying Afghan police instructors killed at least 35 people. Violence across Afghanistan's restive south and east has surged in the past 17 months. It is likely to continue in the short-term as NATO and US-led coalition forces continue their security sweep of militant strongholds in the south and southeast.

Flash floods kill at least 63 people across several provinces in Afghanistan

Flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains across several provinces have reportedly killed at least 63 people, according to IFRC on Friday (June 29), since last Saturday (June 24). Shalezai Deedar, governor of southeastern Kunar province said that flooding on Monday (June 25) killed at least seven people, while three others were missing. He said floodwaters had caused damage to tens of homes, roads, bridges, power lines and inundated farmland. According to Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), flash floods also killed three children and two women in Qara Bagh and Farza districts north of Kabul. Authorities in Kapisa province say flash floods have claimed three lives in Nejrab district, while one person was missing. In Parwan province, five people were killed and eight others injured in Surkhparsa district. On Tuesday (June 26) floods hit Zormat, Ahmad Abad and Jaji Ayob districts in Paktya province, killing five people. In Ajrestan, Khogyani and Zankham districts in Ghazni province, two children were killed and several others injured. On Wednesday (June 27), floods in Kabul city left three children dead and injured two others. Three others are reported to be missing. There have also been reports of damage to crops, farmland and livestock from flooding in Wardak, Logar, Nangarhar, Panjshir and Parwan provinces. A landslide triggered by heavy rains on Friday (June 24) in the northeastern province of Kunduz also killed seven children. UN officials say they are assessing the situation to devise a response plan.

Eighteen abducted Afghan deminers freed in southern Afghanistan

Eighteen Afghan deminers working with the Mine Detection Dog Center (MDC) that were abducted by the Taliban insurgents in the southeastern province of Ghazni last Saturday (June 23) have since been released. Shahab Hakimi, the director of the MDC, told reporters on Thursday (June 28) that nine of the deminers were freed on Wednesday (June 27), while the remaining nine were released early Thursday (June 28). Hakimi said he was pleased over the release of the deminers and thanked local elders for their help in negotiating with the insurgents. He said the deminers’ equipment and dogs were still with the Taliban. The eighteen members of the mine-clearing team, including 14 deminers, one doctor and three drivers, along with their four vehicles and three trained dogs, had been seized by the Taliban as they were going to a demining site in Ghazni's Andar district.

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

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	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
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF, ICRC, DACAAR
Comments	A landslide triggered by heavy rain on Sunday (June 24) killed six children in Kunduz province. (IFRC, June 29) On Wednesday (June 27) floods in Panjshir province killed 24 people and injured 40 others. (June 29, IFRC)

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	The Defense Ministry said on Wednesday (June 27), that eight militants were killed in Gereshk district in Helmand by coalition forces, while seven more were killed in an airstrike in Tirin Kot in Uruzgan province. (June 29, AP) Two contractors working for a private US security company were killed and several others wounded in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday (June 28), when a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy. The dead included a US civilian and a Nepalese security guard. Zabiullah Mujaheed, a purported Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility. (June28, ABC) In Paktika province on Thursday (June 28), a suicide car bomber killed one Afghan civilian and wounded six others, including two ISAF soldiers. (June 29, AP) In Mizan district in Zabul province on Thursday, Taliban militants ambushed a joint NATO and Afghan patrol. Two militants were killed and five others wounded. (June 29, AP) Eighteen Afghan deminers working with the Mine Detection Dog Center (MDC) who were abducted by the Taliban insurgents in the southeastern province of Ghazni last Saturday (June 23) were released. Nine of the deminers were freed on Wednesday (June 27), while the remaining nine were released early Thursday (June 28). (June 25, DPA, AFP). Four members of the same family were killed Friday (June 29) in a US-led coalition raid on a suspected militant hideout in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. (June 29, Reuters)
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Comments	Floods in Kunar province on Monday (June 25) left seven dead and three missing. The floods also damaged houses, agricultural lands and infrastructure. (IFRC, June 29) Five people were killed in flash floods that hit Qarabagh and Farza districts in Kabul province on Monday (June 25). In Nirjab district, in Kapisa province, three people were killed and one left missing by floods. In Parwan province, five people were killed and eight others injured in Surkhparsa district. (IFRC, June 29) On Tuesday (June 26) floods hit Zormat, Ahmad Abad and Jaji Ayob districts in Paktya province, killing five people. In Ajrestan, Khogyani and Zankham districts in Ghazni province, two children were killed and several others injured. (IFRC, June 29) On Wednesday (June 27), floods in Kabul city left three children dead and injured two others. Three others are reported to be missing. (IFRC, June 29)

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