Tearfund suspends operations in southern Afghanistan

Tearfund is regrettably suspending its operations in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan this week due to increasing insecurity in the region.

Since last December an upsurge in attacks in Kandahar city, home to Tearfund’s southern Afghanistan office, has prevented staff from accessing project sites. Last month 13 people were killed and 60 were injured when two bombs exploded within minutes of each other in Kandahar city, coming just a day after a grenade attack on the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“It is with deep regret that we are having to suspend our work in Kandahar,” says Nigel Timmins, Tearfund’s Operations Manager for Afghanistan. “The area is now too insecure for us to continue our work and the risk to our staff is unacceptably high. We hope to return to Kandahar as soon as the security situation allows.” Until its suspension, Tearfund had been working in 28 villages within a 70km radius of Kandahar city with a team of 45 staff.

Tearfund is particularly concerned that the Afghan people are hit hardest by the deteriorating security situation. Civilians are increasingly the victims of attacks. In the last six months alone, 400 civilians have been killed in southern Afghanistan. As an increasing number of humanitarian agencies suspend activities in the region, Tearfund is concerned that the Afghan people will suffer further.

“We are very concerned that suspending our operations could leave poor people vulnerable to food shortages, as irrigation systems, which would have helped communities grow their own food, will not be functioning before the start of the growing season," says Nigel Timmins.

Aid workers are increasingly being targeted. In the last nine months, 13 aid workers have been killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Tearfund is calling on all parties in the conflict to respect the impartiality of humanitarian personnel in their efforts to help the people of Afghanistan to rebuild their lives.

“Establishing a secure Afghanistan so that the people can begin to rebuild their lives is the country’s biggest challenge right now,” says Nigel Timmins. With the Afghan Ministry of Defence reporting that 25 per cent of newly trained Afghan army recruits are deserting, it will take many years to establish a viable Afghan National Army. Tearfund believes that the Afghanistan Transitional Authority needs to dramatically increase the commitment and resources made available to the creation of such national security forces. In the interim, international peacekeeping forces, under the auspices of the United Nations, need to be expanded outside of Kabul.

“Tearfund remains committed to future work in southern Afghanistan and hopes to return as soon as the security situation improves,” says Nigel Timmins. “In the meantime, we will continue to lobby for increased and sustained support to an Afghan-led agenda for determining a safer and improved south.”

Tearfund will maintain a minimal office presence in Kandahar city, managed by local staff, until the security situation allows for operations to be resumed. Tearfund’s work elsewhere in Afghanistan and on the Pakistan border will continue.

Tearfund has been working in the southern province of Kandahar since 2002, helping communities to recover after decades of war, by rebuilding schools, restoring water supplies, improving farming methods and running health education programmes.

-TEARFUND