Over 3 lakh Afghans internally displaced due to conflict, says UN report

More than 3 lakh Afghans have been displaced internally due to the recent spate of conflicts in the region, the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday. “The IOM estimates that more than 300,000 Afghans have been internally displaced by the recent intensification of the conflict,” said the UN agency in a report.

IOM further estimates that around 40,000 people have been fleeing to neighbouring Iran every week. The agency also cautioned that increasing Xenophobia in neighbouring countries and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been forcing many Afghan refugees to return home. “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.5 million people have been deported from, or opted to leave, neighbouring Pakistan and Iran to return to Afghanistan,” IOM stated.

The UN agency has been supporting the returnees who are in dire need of sustenance and shelter as they have spent their very last penny to pay for transportation costs to be able to return home. “IOM will ensure we are prepared for a continued deterioration in the humanitarian situation”, said the agency’s Afghanistan chief Stuart Simpson.

“Now is not the time to turn a blind eye to Afghanistan’s critical situation. International attention and advocacy is urgently needed to convey the suffering of Afghan civilians to the world. A negotiated ceasefire remains the best solution for Afghanistan’s civilian population to stay safe and potentially create the conditions for improved service delivery and the access required to reach vulnerable persons with care and assistance,” Simpson added.

Taliban have been waging war in major Afghan cities as US troops prepare for their final leg of withdrawal. Taliban insurgents captured the provincial capital of Zaranj and assassinated the government’s senior media officer, Dawa Khan Menapal, in Kabul on Friday. Menapal’s death comes within a month of Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui’s death at Spin Boldak region while on assignment with the Afghan defence forces.

Taliban fighters have been laying siege to provincial capitals in the south and west of the country after seizing several key border crossings. The UN envoy for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council on Friday that the Taliban’s fighting is taking a “distressing human toll”, with at least 104 civilians killed and 403 wounded in fighting to take Laskhar Gah, the capital of Helmand province since July 28; and more than 460 civilian casualties registered in Kandahar since the start of the offensive there on July 9.

The country is also reeling from a severe drought and intense humanitarian crisis. The UN estimates around 18.5 million people, almost half the country’s population, will be in need of humanitarian assistance this year to cope with the ongoing multifaceted crisis, caused by conflict, a global pandemic, and widespread under-development and poverty.