Staff, stocks, funding … NGOs in Afghanistan plunged into uncertainty

While the last American troops left Afghanistan on Monday, August 30, the Afghan population now lives under multiple threats, in particular the risk of a humanitarian crisis. Despite the chain of evacuations in recent weeks, several NGOs have remained in place. But some of them face many uncertainties since the Taliban seized power and the departure of Western armies.

After the fall of Kabul in mid-August, several international donors announced that they had suspended their aid to Afghanistan, due to the uncertainty surrounding the status of the new leaders. This is the case, for example, with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which until then had carried out around fifty development projects in Afghanistan.

>> See also: Departure of the United States from Afghanistan: what results in terms of the economy and human development?

“In the coming months, funding will be the sinews of war”, apprehends Sarah Chateau, head of the Afghanistan program for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), contacted by France 24. The French NGO is only funded by private donations, which allows it to maintain its activities in Afghanistan. But most of the organizations in the country are not financially independent. “It will therefore be necessary that the financial partners continue to support the humanitarian structures which are ready to remain in place,” she continues.

The UN in fact warned, Tuesday, August 24, that a “humanitarian catastrophe” awaited the Afghans this winter if the international community did not make the lives of Afghans a priority. “Right now we need $ 200 million [170 millions d’euros, NDLR] to deliver life-saving aid before it’s too late, “said World Food Program (WFP) deputy regional director for Asia-Pacific, Anthea Webb.

War, drought and pandemic

The World Food Program also called on the international community to speed up operations aimed at building food reserves in the face of the approaching winter which is causing sudden snowfalls, hampering the distribution of food stocks. “One in three people” is also food insecure in Afghanistan, due to the combined effects of the war in the country and the consequences of global warming, according to WFP representative in Afghanistan, Mary-Ellen McGroarty .

In this context, the maintenance of the supply of food and medical equipment raises serious concerns, in particular in the long term. “Action Against Hunger (ACF) anticipated the risk of shortages, by building up stocks, particularly of drugs, which were intended to allow activities to continue for a few months,” Thomas Nobre, deputy director of ACF in France, told France 24. Afghanistan. But stocks will not last forever. “If we do not solve this problem, it will be complicated”, he fears, assuring that in the meantime, “the teams are mobilizing to evaluate the alternatives at the air and ground levels to be able to continue the supplies”.

On the side of MSF, “for the moment, there is no problem of out of stock”, assures Sarah Chateau. The NGO claims to have made reserves in early August in anticipation, as Afghan cities fell one after the other. “We negotiated with the Taliban to obtain authorizations to run our trucks and supply our projects.” The other solution to last over time is to rely on airlifts. On Monday, a humanitarian flight carrying WHO medical supplies landed in northern Afghanistan in Mazar-i-Sharif. In view of the situation in the country, other deliveries should be organized. “We are in discussion with the WHO to know if we can integrate our most urgent products in the next airlift”, explains Sarah Chateau.

“Our current priority is not so much the material (because we still have stocks), it is the human resources”, qualifies the person in charge of MSF. If, according to her, the NGO currently has “about fifty international expatriates in Afghanistan”, in the future, she fears that this pool will not be enough. “We need to make turnover. After periods of intense conflict, some need to return home. And if we want to increase in power, we will need additional human resources,” she explains. For the moment, a flight carrying MSF aid workers has taken off from Tajikistan for Afghanistan but “there are no guarantees for the future,” admits Sarah Chateau.

“No visibility on the future of the health system” in afghanistan

The urgency is all the greater since beyond the conflict, Afghanistan has been in the grip of a severe drought for several years, and the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the humanitarian situation. “The political instability adds to an already dramatic situation in Afghanistan”, regrets Thomas Nobre. The Taliban, who conquered Kabul after a lightning war, have yet to form a government. They have also just taken the reins of a country threatened by terrorist attacks and impoverished after more than four decades of war.

This political context complicates humanitarian operations and slows them down, whereas in Afghanistan the health system has hitherto relied on NGOs. “The health centers are managed by these organizations in coordination with the Ministry of Health because the previous government did not have control of all areas of the country. But today, we have no visibility on the ‘future of this health system,’ points out Thomas Nobre.

“For now, we are talking locally with the Taliban. We have contacted various local leaders who have taken up their posts in the regions where we work. They assured us that the continuity of our services would be ensured and that the women could continue to work. For the moment, we are trying to have guarantees on these aspects, “advance, for her part, Sarah Chateau.

During the fighting, NGO activity was already disrupted. Aerial bombardments and the use of explosive devices destroyed homes and health facilities in the heart of cities. Some organizations have had to retreat to protect their workers.

“Because of the fighting, we suspended practically all our activities. Today, they are resuming little by little over the course of discussions with the communities, the evolution of the security context and the risk assessments on the ground”, reports Thomas. Number. But this recovery is slow. Currently, only two clinics managed by Action Against Hunger are operational in Afghanistan, out of more than twenty usually deployed in the country.

The NGO, which works with around 400 national staff, also wants to ensure that women, persecuted under the former Taliban regime, can resume their activities without danger, in the education or health sectors. But for the moment, “the clarifications are arriving in a trickle”, deplores Thomas Nobre who, like all the humanitarian workers on the spot, is worried about the population. “If the health system becomes unstable, the impact will be catastrophic,” he fears.