Tora Bora, Part 2

Posted By: Erica

When I met Nazir and Amin they were doing much better – they had received assistance from ACAP (the US funded program that supports war victims) that allowed them to run their own family grocery businesses. Although they were satisfied with the assistance and their current situation, I could not help worrying about the effectiveness of such aid so many years after the initial incident. Nazir and Amin did not receive assistance until seven years after their family members died at Tora Bora. That’s because the program didn’t exist when they were first harmed. Now aid gets to families quickly, but back then, they were left with nothing for too long. So, even if it was the right thing to do, I wondered if all these years later the assistance was too little, too late?

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Tora Bora, Part 1

Posted By: Erica

In December 2001, the Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan were believed to be the last refuge of Osama bin Laden. US air strikes barraged the Tora Bora area, dropping hundreds of bombs and artillery shells. Unfortunately, Bin Laden and associates were not the only ones hiding in the caves. Though sparsely populated, the Tora Bora area had been home to Afghan families for generations. When the bombing began, many of the families fled to refugee camps in Pakistan but not everyone made it out.

A few weeks ago I talked to Nazir, who lost family members in the Tora Bora bombings. He said half of his family had fled to Pakistan but that his brother stayed behind with his family in Tora Bora. Every night, he and his family would listen to the BBC and Voice of America on the radio for news of what was happening just across the border. One night he heard the news about Tora Bora and immediately headed back into the conflict zone to find out what had happened to his family. “I went from vehicle at first, then by foot. It took me two days,” he said. It is normally a 5 hour journey or less.

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GUEST BLOG: Sudan’s other war victims…

Posted By: Michael, an aid and peace-building expert working in Darfur.

I recently spent a few days in Darfur, on a short-term assignment for an NGO working in the region. I was there to support the organization’s peace-building work, which seeks to create grassroots dialogue between and among tribes which live in the same area. Most of the world’s attention has focused on the 2.4 million people forced to flee their homes, many of whom now live in IDP camps scattered throughout the region. Millions more people, though, continue to live in villages and settlements across Darfur. They, too, are victims of the conflict — often living in fear, and brutal poverty. The peace-building project tries to foster stability in these difficult-to-reach rural areas, trying to restore some of the inter-tribal relationships and understanding that existed before the war.

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Meeting with the UN

Posted By: Erica

Yesterday I met with several officers of the United Nations mission here, referred to as UNAMA. The folks at UNAMA have themselves been trying to figure out how to coordinate support for civilian casualties. They agree with CIVIC that the international community should provide support for civilian casualties caused by international troops. They also share our concern that funds like ACAP and POHRF could be better coordinated both among NATO states and with agencies within the Afghan government. Having emergency relief or aid delivered and coordinated by an Afghan agency – perhaps at first in partnership with experienced humanitarian organizations – would strengthen the government’s longer-term capacity to aid those who have suffered the direct consequences of conflict.

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Life as an ex-pat

Posted By: Erica

Most of my blogs have focused on work issues, but my CIVIC colleagues have encouraged me to post a bit on life in Kabul.  Contrary to the perceptions of some of my friends and family, I don’t hear bombs or see the ongoing conflict on a daily basis. Life in Kabul for non-Afghan ex-patriates (ex-pats) is affected more by the preventive security measures than by actual violence.  Journalists, freelancers, independent entrepreneurs, and some NGO staff tend to have the least restrictions and may enjoy a relatively normal life.  They may walk in the street sometimes, buy their own groceries and supplies, go to Afghan restaurants (as opposed to sticking only to the string of rocket-and mortar-secured ex-pat restaurants), take regular Afghan taxis, hike or go climbing in the mountains surrounding Kabul, etc.

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Bureaucratic obstacles…

Posted By: Erica

I’ve shared several stories so far about those who have benefitted from the USAID-funded Afghan Civilian Assistance Program (ACAP), such as Masood and Hazi. As mentioned before, though, this is not the only program benefitting civilians in Afghanistan. In late 2006, several NATO countries chipped in to fund the Post-Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund (POHRF) – a fund providing emergency relief to civilian victims of ISAF operations. This is huge in terms of signaling the importance of making amends, helping where you’ve harmed. But this fund would carry a lot more weight if it were supported by all NATO member countries in Afghanistan. So far it is only supported by nine countries: Australia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Iceland and the United States.

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The ISAF Conference

Posted By: Erica

On Monday I attended an ISAF-sponsored conference focused on Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT). The three-day conference is designed to orient a new rotation of PRT commanders to Afghanistan, and to allow existing commanders to touch base with ISAF leaders, government officials, or other organizations relevant to their work. They reserve one day of the three-day conference for “civilians” to attend. Topics discussed ranged from protecting historical sites, to infrastructure building techniques, to how PRTs can be involved in developing Afghanistan’s energy capacity.

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