Countrywide Conflict Displacement
As of 19 November, a total of 343,958 people were displaced due to conflict in Afghanistan, up by 5,850 people compared to the previous week. The provinces sheltering the highest numbers of IDPs remained Nangarhar (65,858), Kunduz (32,998), Badghis (25,411) and Baghlan (19,138).
Central Region: Military operations in Kapisa reportedly displaced some 4,200 people within Tagab district and to Sarobi, Kabul. More than 1,500 people reportedly arrived in Sharan City from within Paktika. Dispute over land turned violent in Khost City and reportedly displaced some 1,400 people and some 420 people to Khost City from Urgun district. In 2017, 20,415 people were verified as displaced in the Central and Capital regions, 6 per cent of the total displacement.
Northern/North Eastern: Reportedly, 15,927 individuals arrived in Kunduz City from two districts in the province and 2,891 people arrived in Taloqan and Baharak districts, Takhar, within Takhar and from neighbouring Kunduz. Some 600 people have reportedly been displaced from Qushtepa district of Jawzjan to Sar-e-Pul Centre. This year, 111,235 IDPs have been verified in the two regions, 32 per cent of this year’s total displacement.
Eastern: More than 1,600 people have reportedly been displaced from two districts in Kunar to Asadabad and other localities, due to intensified cross-border shelling. Also in Kunar, more than 400 people reportedly left villages in Chawkay District pre-emptively, due to NSAG advances. Since January, 78,311 people have been displaced in the Eastern Region, 23 per cent of the displacements across the country in 2017.
Southern/South Eastern: Some 1,200 people reportedly were displaced within Nawa-e-Barakzaiy district, Hilmand, and to the provincial centre Lashkargah. Fighting within Lashkargah district reportedly displaced some 1,400 people to the city. A total of 70,383 people are currently displaced in the two regions, 20 per cent of the total displacements this year.
Western: No significant new displacements have been reported from the Western Region in the past week. In total, 63,614 people are currently displaced in the Western Region, 18 per cent of the total displacements this year.
Food security
The latest food security assessment classified Badghis Province as the only province in the country being in IPC emergency phase 4, according to the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC): Nearly 56 per cent of the people in the province have a poor food consumption score and nearly 42 per cent have a borderline food consumption.
Returnees and Refugees
From 12 to 18 November, a total of 821 people spontaneously returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan and another 29 were deported, according to IOM. From Iran, 7,620 people returned spontaneously and 6,120 were deported. This year, 94,957 people have returned from Pakistan and 393,824 from Iran.
During the same reporting period, 457 refugees returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan, according to UNHCR, and 6 from Iran. This year, a total of 57,303 refugees have returned from Pakistan, Iran and other countries to Afghanistan.
Ongoing Response Activities (please also see page 2)
During the past week, more than 40,000 displaced people, undocumented returnees, refugees or host families received some form of humanitarian assistance across the country.
CR: DRC-DDG provided cash assistance to 273 IDPs in Panjsher and Kabul. DACAAR added hygiene kits for the 154 IDPs assisted in Kabul. In Khost, IRC distributed cash to 287 undocumented returnees, however a gap exists with shelter and food for these families.
NR/NER: A total of 4,795 conflict IDPs received humanitarian assistance in Balkh, Faryab, Kunduz and Jawzjan provinces.
ACTED, PIN and NRC provided cash assistance, WFP distributed food, CARE, SCI and UNHCR NFIs and DACAAR hygiene kits or WASH packages.
ER: Nearly 3,400 IDPs received NFIs from DRC-DDG, NRC,
PU-AMI and SCI in Laghman and Nangarhar and 1,883 IDPs received NFIs from UNHCR. WFP distributed food to 8,600 people in Nangarhar. ANDMA and authorities in Kunar provided food and clothing to 280 people displaced by cross border shelling.
WR: In Farah and Ghor, more than 1,000 IDPs received cash from ACF and DRC-DDG, NFIs or hygiene kits from UNHCR and UNICEF and food from WFP. The NGO Bakhtar Development Network (BDN) deployed two medical staff to Islam Qala border crossing with Iran to cover a gap left after the clinic was handed over to authorities in July.
SR: Some 850 displaced people in Lashkargah City received unconditional cash assistance, cash for food and hygiene kits from ACF, IRC and WFP.
Winterization assistance
In Gardez, Paktya, UNHCR distributed US$200 for heating fuel for three months and blankets to 300 families as part of the Emergency Shelter/NFI Cluster (ES/NFI) winterization response and will ramp up distributions in the coming days. An estimated 78,000 families are in need of humanitarian aid to get through the coming months warm and in dignity.
In addition to the Cluster standard package, WFP distributed food rations to more than 6,000 undocumented returnees in the Eastern Region under their seasonal food distribution programme; SCI distributed NFIs including winter kits to nearly 1,890 people in Nangarhar and NRC distributed $30 cash for heating fuel to 720 families in the same province.
Security Incidents and Access Constraints
SR: In Uruzgan, ANSF members requested humanitarian workers to register them for assistance, which prompted the partners to suspend the ongoing assessment. In the same province, 35 health facilities remain closed for the past two months due to pressure from members of an NSAG on the NGO providing health services to accept their demands to include trauma care in the services provided by the clinics.