HIGHLIGHTS
Four aid workers from Save the Children were killed in an attack on the NGO’s office in Jalalabad.
Thousands of Kuchi families are unable to cross the border into Pakistan with their livestock.
More than two million people live in informal settlement. The vast majority of has not enough to eat.
The Afghan health care system has achieved remarkable progress over the past years, despite deepening conflict.
The number of access-related and aid worker incidents in 2017 was nearly double that of 2016.
Attack on Save the Children office in Jalalabad
On 24 January, members of an armed group attacked the office of the NGO Save the Children (SCI) in Jalalabad, Nangarhar. The first attacker detonated a vehicle carrying explosives at the gate of the compound, followed by several other attackers storming the compound firing automatic weapons.
Afghan National Security Forces responded to the incident and engaged the attackers in a firefight that lasted for several hours. All attackers were killed, according to the authorities. The Islamic State of Khorasan subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack.
In total, four members of the SCI-team were killed and as many wounded. Three civilian bystanders also lost their lives in the attack, and more than 30 people were injured, including five children.
Dozens of SCI staff members sheltered in the bunker of the building’s basement, until security forces had cleared the compound.
Following the attack, SCI temporarily suspended all activities in Afghanistan.
During the fighting, a building in the neighbouring compound belonging to the NGO Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) caught fire. All SCA staff members had been able to evacuate the building before the blaze.
Worldwide condemnation of the attack on a humanitarian NGO
“I am appalled and outraged by this attack (…). Humanitarian workers are not a target,” said Adele Khodr, the acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan in a statement the same day. “I renew our calls on all parties to the conflict to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and humanitarian workers.”
The same sentiments were reflected in a statement by the head of the UN in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, and a statement of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres: “Humanitarian organizations provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable men, women and children in Afghanistan. Aid workers, and their premises and assets, should never be a target.”
All 67 national and international NGOs members of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) equally condemned the “atrocious attack” in the strongest terms and warned that “any attack, intimidation, violence or threat against aid workers will ultimately result in delays in implementation of programmes and will cause negative impact on the welfare of the people of Afghanistan”.