Countrywide Conflict Displacement
More than 17,000 displaced people have been recorded in OCHA’s Displacement Tracking System (DTS) during the past week, some of whom have been displaced at the end of 2017.
Central Region: Military operations in Logar Province have reportedly displaced more than 1,000 people to Logar City and Mohammad Agha district. Assessment teams have been dispatched. Military operations in Khost Province have reportedly displaced nearly 250 people to Khost Centre. The Central Region shelters 5 per cent of all IDPs since January 2017.
Northern/North Eastern Region: The latest military operation in Chardarah district ceased on 23 January. It caused the displacement of more than 10,000 people to Kunduz City, according to authorities. Other, unverified reports indicate the displacement of more than 60,000 people. A dozen humanitarian teams have commenced assessments of the IDPs. In Baghlan, nearly 10,000 people were displaced within Pul-e-Khumri district, according to yet unverified reports. In Badakhshan, more than 3,200 people have reportedly been displaced from four districts to Fayzabad City due to conflict. Displaced people in the two regions account for 32 per cent of the total displacement in Afghanistan since January 2017.
Eastern Region: No significant displacements have been reported from the Eastern Region in the past week. The four provinces in the Eastern Region shelter 30 per cent of all families displaced since the beginning of last year.
Southern/South Eastern Region: No significant new displacements have been reported from the two southern regions. A joint screening committee in Kandahar found the petitions of more than 800 displaced families eligible and humanitarian assessments will commence shortly. A total of 78,000 displaced people were recorded since beginning of last year in the two regions, 16 per cent of the total displacement.
Western: The situation in the region has been calm in the past week with no reports of significant displacements. More than 71,200 people are currently displaced in the Western Region, 15 per cent of the total displacement in Afghanistan.
Returns to Afghanistan
From 21 to 27 January, a total of 9,639 Afghans returned to Afghanistan, according to IOM. A total of 370 people returned spontaneously from Pakistan, 30 were deported and 5,257people returned spontaneously from Iran, from where an additional 3,982 people were deported. UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation programme is suspended due to winter.
In whole of 2017, a total of 57,411 refugees have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan, 1,202 from Iran and 202 from other countries, according to UNHCR who supported them.
Ongoing Response Activities (please also see page 2)
During the past week, more than 39,000 displaced people, returnees, refugees and host families received some form of humanitarian aid, including winterisation assistance.
CR: In Khost, WFP distributed food packages to 22,400 refugees in Khost Matun and in Gulan refugee camps. In Kabul, CARE and DRC-DDG provided cash assistance to 180 IDPs and DACAAR added hygiene kits for each family. In Ghazni, DRC-DDG assisted 400 IDPs with cash to buy food and in Paktika, nearly 290 IDPs received cash assistance.
ANDMA assisted 2,100 people in Paktika whose houses were damaged by rains in November with food and NFIs.
NR/NER: In Kunduz City, 430 IDPs from Dasht-e-Archi district received cash from ACTED, WASH packages from DACAAR,
NFIs from UNHCR and food from WFP. In Taloqan City,
Takhar, more than 1,000 IDPs received cash from ACTED, hygiene kits from DACAAR, NFIs from Mission East and food from WFP. Further, UNHCR distributed NFIs to 98 IDPs in Takhar province.
ER: UNICEF distributed NFIs, hygiene kits and winter kits including blankets to 700 displaced people in Khogyani,
Nangarhar, and CWSA distributed the second of three instalments of cash for food to over 1,200 IDPs and returnees in Behsud, Kama, Rodat and Surkhrod districts. In three districts of Nangarhar, Welthungerhilfe completed 225 permanent shelters for as many returnee families. A total of 40 families were provided with transitional shelter in Surkhrod,
Nangarhar, by the Organization of Human Welfare (OHW),
Cordaid and ANDMA. OHW also distributed cash for rent to 16 returnee and host families in the same district. In Chawkay,
Kunar, PU-AMI distributed cash to 860 IDPs. WFP distributed food to 1,865 people in the ER and at the IOM transit centre at the Torkham border crossing, UNICEF distributed hygiene kits, winter kits and blankets to 294 returnees from Pakistan. Health Cluster partners treated more than 4,000 IDPs and returnees and vaccinated 691 children in the past week.
SR: In Lashkargah, Hilmand, ACF, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP assisted more than 1,000 displaced people with cash, NFIs including kitchen kits, hygiene and WASH kits including water purification tablets as well as baby kits and tents, where needed.
In Zaranj, Nimroz, ACF provided cash to 80 displaced people.
WR: UNFPA reached 155 returnees and IDPs via their mobile health team and provided services to 46 cases of gender-based violence at the family protection centre.
Gaps
According to humanitarian assessments conducted in Khakrez district, Kandahar, a large number of displaced families remain unassisted. The district is hard to reach for humanitarian partners and distributions are currently conducted via the recruitment of people from local communities.
Access and Security
The complex attack on 24 January on Save the Children’s (SCI) office in Jalalabad killed four staff members and wounded as many. SCI temporarily suspended all operations across the country. A building in the neighbouring compound of the NGO Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) caught fire during the attack, and their regional office will remain closed for some time.