Afghanistan Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 46 | 01 – 30 November 2015

HIGHLIGHTS

· Kunduz residents have, for the most part, resumed the lives and livelihoods they had prior to the conflict, according to observations of OCHA mission.

· Conflict took a heavy financial toll on those displaced but most urgent and acute humanitarian needs have been met.

· WFP distributed food assistance; ARCS provided food and non-food items.

· Mine action teams surveyed and cleared the city of UXOs and ERW.

· Civilians remain at risk due to the tenuous security environment.

Displaced return as Kunduz security stabilizes

90 per cent of families displaced by conflict had returned by end of October

Non-state armed groups (NSAG) managed to seize and occupy Kunduz city in September and October before eventually withdrawing after two weeks of armed conflict with Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

The Kunduz regional airport, health facilities, and schools were closed and water, electrical and communication services disrupted during the conflict, which displaced at least 12,000 families and forced the evacuation of humanitarian actors, including UN agencies and international nongovernmental organizations (NGO).

After ANSF’s return, by the end of October an estimated 90 percent of displaced families had returned to Kunduz city in addition to international NGO, which quickly recommenced operations to support those returning. Residents of the provincial capital city in northwestern Afghanistan appeared to have resumed activities of typical daily life when a joint United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization mission visited in mid-November.

Water and electricity had been restored. The regional airport and hospital both had resumed regular operations. Shops and markets were open with sufficient supplies of food and other essential items, schools and public offices were operating, and for the most part people appear to have resumed the lives and livelihoods they had prior to the conflict.

Few tangible signs of conflict observed during joint UN mission

Urgent and acute humanitarian needs resulting from the escalation in armed conflict largely were met immediately after affected populations became displaced and prior to their return to Kunduz city. The joint UN mission team found evidence neither of widespread suffering nor urgent humanitarian needs in Kunduz city.

Though Kunduz residents clearly were shaken by the events that had unfolded in their city, few tangible signs of the conflict were observed during the joint UN team’s visit. “Most of the city did not appear to have been affected. We had to search out damaged houses and the conflict-damaged homes we did find were large private residences that were being repaired because the owners have the means to do so,” said Dominic Parker, head of OCHA Afghanistan.

However, the conflict took a heavy financial toll on many of the displaced. Many were forced to use most of their personal savings to flee the embattled city in public or private means of transportation that cost as much as 10 times the usual fare.

Humanitarian assistance to target IDPs and families with dead, wounded Based on the observations of the joint UN mission, it appeared that assistance should be provided to families with dead, wounded and/or missing members, particularly if they were the primary income earner, as well as IDPs who had returned to find their homes looted, burned or destroyed and had lost their source of income.

Food assistance provided by the World Food Programme and Afghanistan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) was targeted to households that had members who were injured or had died; families whose homes were damaged or destroyed; people with disabilities and female-headed households; and, the extremely poor or vulnerable. ARCS distributed to families who had suffered injuries or fatalities as a result of the conflict. The assistance packages contained rice, wheat, beans, sugar, mattress and blanket.

An urgent priority after the fighting had subsided was ensuring

Kunduz city was safe and secure for returnees and humanitarian actors. This was particularly the case where abandoned government and NGO facilities had been used for defensive positions. Mine action teams scoured the city to clear unexploded ordinance and explosive remnants of war. Funds from the Common Humanitarian Fund were used to train two teams (each composed of four members) on mine risk education, survey and explosive ordinance disposal operations. These teams began activities in Kunduz on 1 December.

Tenuous security puts civilians at risk in Kunduz and around the world While overall security has improved considerably in Kunduz city, the situation remains volatile. Sporadic attacks and indirect fire from strongholds adjacent to the city emphasize the continued military ability of NSAGs to threaten the city. “We met and talked to families displaced from current fighting who sought refuge in Kunduz who had clear IDP needs for after having to escape the ongoing conflict with no belongings,” said Parker, adding that the families had fled contested areas to the northeast and south-west of Kunduz city. “In one small two-room house we visited, we counted 50 to 60 people, at least 33 women and children inside, and men outside in the garden.

They had fled Dasht-e-Archi two weeks earlier. One of the woman's husband was an Afghan Local Police commander who had been killed in the fighting.” Kunduz city was the first provincial capital to fall to opposition forces since October 2001, signaling a shift in tactics towards a more conventional form of territorial warfare with the focus on largescale engagements. Further evidence of the evolving nature of armed conflict in Afghanistan is that NSAGs have managed to briefly capture 23 district administrative centres in 2015, compared to only three in 2014. “The sound of artillery and the extent of force evident on the street suggests that the longterm situation is still not resolved,” said Parker.
Afghanistan’s tenuous security environment is reflected in an unprecedented joint warning issued on 31 October by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, about the impact of conflicts on civilians. Both men appealed for urgent and concrete action to address human suffering and insecurity in their joint statement.