February 2, 2007

 

 

Overview

 

European Union unveils US$777 million aid package for Afghanistan

The European Union (EU) on Monday (January 29) pledged a US$777 million (EUR 600 million) aid package for Afghanistan to help tackle the country's booming drug production, and revamp the judiciary and healthcare systems. The four-year aid package was presented at a meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Berlin, Germany, and came only days after the United States said it is seeking US$10.6 billion from Congress for Afghanistan's reconstruction, and to train and equip the country's fledgling security forces. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, "EU stands by Afghanistan." An EU statement said the aid package will help train and pay salaries for Afghan police, improve training for judges and prosecutors, and introduce a code of ethics for the judiciary. The EU will also continue to fund rural development programs in Afghanistan's northeast and east to encourage farmers to switch from opium cultivation to other crops. Separately, a two-day UN-backed meeting of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB), responsible for overseeing Afghanistan's reconstruction, ended in Berlin on Wednesday (January 31). Representatives from over 23 countries and international organizations attending the meeting agreed to step up reconstruction efforts. Donor countries also agreed to give the Afghan government more control over how aid was spent.

 

Taliban militants take over town in southern Afghanistan

Taliban fighters yesterday (Thursday, February 1) took over the town of Musa Qala in the country's southern Helmand province. According to the provincial governor, Asadullah Wafa, militants first entered the town on Wednesday (January 31) and disarmed the police. They returned on Thursday and destroyed parts of the compound housing the governor and the police. He said businesses in the area have shut down and local residents in the near vicinity have moved out of the area amid fears of NATO-led airstrikes and ground assaults. Musa Qala was a scene of fierce fighting between NATO-led British forces and the Taliban late last year. However, British troops pulled out of Musa Qala as a result of a recent peace deal between the provincial governor and the local elders. The deal called for the withdrawal of NATO troops from Musa Qala. Local elders, in return, assumed responsibility for keeping the Taliban out of the town center and for maintaining security with their own auxiliary police. The peace deal, which lasted 142 days, falters just days ahead of NATO's change of command in Afghanistan from Britain to the United States.

 

Top NATO commanders discuss new strategy with Pakistan in war against terror

Four senior commanders from the 26-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), currently leading the charge of the UN-mandated international peacekeeping force and other foreign troops in Afghanistan, are in Pakistan to hold talks with Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf and other top military officials on the security situation in Afghanistan. The outgoing commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), British General David J Richards, the incoming ISAF commander, US General Dan K McNeil, General Egon Ramms, commander of the Allied Joint Air Force Command (Brussnum), and General John Craddock, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, arrived in the capital Islamabad on a two-day visit to forge a new strategy in the war against terrorism. According to Pakistani officials, "the visit by NATO commanders is part of their ongoing consultation with Pakistan on the situation in Afghanistan." Among other things, the meeting is likely to discuss Pakistan's controversial proposal to fence and mine its border with Afghanistan. The meeting comes ahead of an anticipated surge in violence by Taliban militants in the spring.

 

UN objects to Afghan parliament's decision to grant immunity for past war crimes

The United Nations is objecting to a decision by Afghanistan's Lower House of Parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga, that grants immunity for war crimes to all Afghans who participated in the country's 25 years of conflict. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement Thursday (February 1) that "no one has the right to forgive those responsible for human rights violations other than the victims themselves," noting that for any national process of reconciliation to work, the suffering of the victims must be acknowledged and impunity tackled. The statement also said that the search for truth and the rights of the victims are the central elements of Afghanistan's Action Plan on Peace, Reconciliation, and Justice, the implementation of which is required by the Afghanistan Compact. The statement comes a day after the Wolesi Jirga passed the bill as part of peace and reconciliation moves aimed at creating national unity. The move would mean that fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and dozens of other Afghan warlords and commanders--many of whom are also in the current Afghan government--will not be prosecuted for their role in human rights violations of the past.

Movement

 

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.

 

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.

 

In 2006, UNHCR/IOM will assist with IDP returns and initial integration and then terminate the program. The recognized IDP population is about 150,000 with 120,000 in the south, including 45,000 in the Zhare Dasht camp near Kandahar, 15,000 in the west, mostly in Herat’s Maslakh camp, and 12,000 elsewhere.

 

Afghanistan Relief Efforts: United Nations Coordination Regions

 

 

 

 

 

Central Region

 

 

 

East Central Region

 

 

Eastern Region

 

 

Northeastern Region

 

 

Northern Region

 

 

Southern Region

 

 

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
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Comments	Support for Spin Boldak camps terminated in 2004.

 

 

Western Region

 

Location	Western Region
Coordination	UNHCR; ICMC
Population	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
Water & Sanitation	UNICEF
Comments

 

 

Refugee Camps in Pakistan

 

 

Location	Long-term camps in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Baluchistan Province, and by capital, Islamabad; Mohamed Kheil 1 & 2 camps (85 km southwest of Quetta)
Type	Refugee Camps
Coordination	UNHCR.
Camp Capacity	About one million mostly long term Afghans in 74 camps—down from about 200 camps.
Population	Estimated 2.6 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan; 63 camps in NWFP, 10 in Baluchistan; and one million elsewhere; Many occupants are long-term residents or were born in Pakistan;
Refugee Movement	UNHCR-assisted returns resumed on March 1. All FATA camps have been closed. 445,000 Afghans returned home from Pakistan in 2005—two thirds were long-term refugees; Pakistan to close Giordi Jungle and Pir Alizai camps in Baloshistan, and Kacha Gari camp in NWFP by the end of July, 2006. (UNNC, June 2). The 250,000 residents will either return to Afghanistan or be relocated to Mohammad Kheil camp, near Quetta in Baluchistan, or ten camps in NWFP.
Food	WFP, CRS, ARC
Health	UNICEF, MSF
Non-Food Items (NFIs) - Shelter	CRS
Security	Pakistani security force of 70,000 to 80,000 reports having border areas secured; Significant clashes between Pakistani government forces and others in border province areas; “Finger-pointing” between Afghan and Pakistan leaders over curbing Taliban and Al-Qaeda along shared border areas
Water & Sanitation	IFRC, MDM
Comments	As of February 2, 2007, over two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan have registered in a US$6-million refugee registration campaign jointly carried out by the UNHCR and Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). (UNHCR, Feb. 2)