English
>
Current Affairs
Afghanistan: thousands flee fighting
By defence expert Hans de Vreij
21-01-2008
Tens of thousands of Afghan people have fled their homes in central and southern Afghanistan since the resurgence of the Taliban and the associated flare-up in fighting began in 2006. The fighting continues to this day. The provinces affected are Kandahar and Helmand and the western part of Uruzgan, where Dutch NATO troops are based.
 |
Red indicates the highest number of displaced individuals
in Afghanistan's unruly southern provinces (Source: UNHCR) |
Two developments have caused people to flee their homes in the central southern provinces. On the one side, the Taliban movement and associated foreign fighters made a successful come-back in early 2006. In the same year, NATO took over the role of the United States in southern Afghanistan and moved units into areas where, until then, the Taliban had been left alone by and large. The result was a marked increase in the amount of fighting.
 Listen to the Newsline report from Hans de Vreij(3'46")
|
As a consequence, tens of thousands of people fled their homes. They are refugees within their own country or, in official parlance, IDPs: internally displaced persons. Aurvasi Patel is the Kabul-based spokeswoman of UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees:
"The international security forces are fighting the insurgents and trying to regain territory. This is of course having an impact on the civilians who live there. It forces people to move out of the war zone into another area that is safe. There, they seek protection until such time that are they able to return safely to their place of origin"
Worst-affected areas
The areas most affected are the northeast of Helmand province, the adjacent western part of Uruzgan province, and the northwest of Kandahar province. Not surprisingly, these same areas are also known as part of the heartland of the Taliban movement. Separately, there is a large concentration of internally displaced persons in the western province of Farah.
The situation in the areas is so dangerous that the UNHCR and many other UN agencies have no presence there. Likewise, foreign NGOs shun these battle zones. Aurvasi Patel explained to Radio Netherlands Worldwide the difficulties this causes:
"Therefore, we have to work very closely with the local government administration, which in many parts of the affected area is not present. So we have to work with non-governmental national agencies to make sure that the internally displaced persons are assisted".
Dutch troops watching situation
The Netherlands is familiar with the problem of internal refugees in the country. There's a small Dutch army base in the Deh Rawod district in the west Uruzgan province, bordering on the Helmand river. Some 10,000 people have fled a small agricultural area in this district to a place called Deh Rawod Bazar, to the south of the Dutch base.
Traditionally, Deh Rawod Bazar is the place where people flee to in times of natural or man-made disasters. Normally some 10,000 people live here. Now, an additional 10,000 refugees have found shelter here under the roofs of the original inhabitants.
Dutch troops in the area are keeping an eye on the situation. For the time being, the internally displaced can be helped adequately, both by the local population as well as by the Afghan aid agencies. But the situation may become untenable, says Commander Robin Middel, spokesman for the Dutch armed forces:
"It is not the standard view we have from a Western perspective, of refugees in large tent camps, crowded together and searching for food. People can help each other, but it's a situation we can't hold on to very much longer. Something has to be done about that".
Since last fall, there has been intermittent fighting north of Deh Rawod Bazar. Just earlier this month, two Dutch and two Afghan soldiers lost their lives there. But surprisingly, the people who have fled this area do come back from time to time, Commander Robin Middel said.
"Sometimes, they choose to go during the day to their fields and work their fields because they have to live, and overnight they sleep at Deh Rawod Bazar."
Tags:
Afghanistan,
Dutch troops,
Helmand ,
Kandahar,
NATO,
refugees,
Taliban,
UNHCR,
Uruzgan,
US
Aaron,
30-01-2008
- USA
The independent Afgan women write:
The US and her allies tried to legitimize their military occupation of Afghanistan under the banner of “bringing freedom and democracy for Afghan people”. But as we have experienced in the past three decades, in regard to the fate of our people, the US government first of all considers her own political and economic interests and has empowered and equipped the most traitorous, anti-democratic, misogynist and corrupt fundamentalist gangs in Afghanistan.
Human rights violations are widespread across Afghanistan
In the past few years, for a thousand times the lies of US claims in the so-called “War on terror” were uncovered. By relying on the criminal bands of the Northern Alliance, the US made a game of values like democracy, human rights, women’s rights etc. thus disgracing our mournful nation. The US created a government from those people responsible for massacres in Pul-e-Charkhi, Dasht-e-Chamtala, Kapisa, Karala, Dasht-e-Lieli, 65,000 Kabulis and tens of mass graves across the country. Now the US tries to include infamous killers like Mullah Omer and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar into the government, which will be another big hypocrisy in the “war against terror”.
The reinstatement of the Northern Alliance to power crushed the hopes of our people for freedom and prosperity into desperation and proved that for the Bush administration, defeating terrorism so that our people can be happy, have no significance at all. The US administration plays a funny anti-Taliban game and pretends that a super power is unable to defeat a small, marginalized and medieval-minded gang which is actually her own product. But our people found by experience in the past few years that the US doesn’t want to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, because then they will have no excuse to stay in Afghanistan and work towards the realization of its economical, political and strategic interests in the region.
Full text:
http://www.rawa.org/events/dec10-07_e.htm
Greg,
23-01-2008
-
I too am a traitor to the empire (but true to the UN Declaration of Human Rights) and a fool who believes in the right of Afghans to resist the invaders. Yes it is a messy grey nightmare with the Western aligned narco-warlords pitted against the Taliban, the former government of Afghanistan (who actually stopped the production of heroin). It’s made uglier by the division along tribal lines.
That said, does an illegal occupation (forget about the US-dominated UN and its pathetic pronouncements) and the incredible slaughter of the population make anything better? Why is NATO doing the empire’s bidding thousands of miles away from it’s borders? I am embarrassed at my country’s (Canada) murderous role in Afghanistan (and Iraq). Were the Taliban to bring the war to the occupiers home and start indiscriminately blowing up schools, hospitals and homes as the Empire destroys their schools, hospitals and homes it would be hard to denounce on basic moral grounds.
So to those who argue to stay the course and point out the obvious distasteful features of the Taliban I’d like to ask:
1) Where are the democracies in the Middle East that we have produced? Not Saudi, not Kuwait, not the UAE, not Qatar, not Bahrain, not Oman, not Pakistan, nor anywhere the Empire has sufficient influence. Iran only had its elections after throwing out the American installed Shaj. The Palestinians are being collectively staved out for voting Hamas in. The Iraqi puppet government only had its elections after the Empire could no longer avoid them. To this day the Iraqi parliament is ignored by the Empire unless it limits its action to rubber-stamping the give-away of Iraqi resources.
2) What is the Afghan death toll that can be laid at the feet of the Empire? Let’s include the victims of the medieval withholding of food and medical supplies immediately before and after the US war of aggression against Afghan who tried to turn the ALLEDGED murderer Osama bin Laden over to an international court or third party country for trial. Let’s also include the death toll in the countries being flooded with heroin.
3) When will the Taliban be permitted to participate in a UN supervised election? (Yes I know the UN is corrupted by American power but perhaps it’s still better than another American gunship dealing death from the sky).
4) What repatriations would Canada seek from a country that wrought the same amount of destruction on its soil?
John,
23-01-2008
- USA
Harris, you are a traitor and a fool.
Harris,
22-01-2008
- USA
End the US-NATO occupation of Afghanistan. The occupation forces are killing civilians illegally. The puppet government is illegitimate. Give Afghanistan back to the Afghans. Respect national sovereignty, oppose US aggression.
