Poor Afghan Security Affecting Aid Groups

Attacks On Groups Leave Some Questioning If They Can Safely Provide Help

(AP)  Deteriorating security in Afghanistan is making it more difficult for aid organizations to carry out their work, the director of a group that lost four workers in a Taliban attack has said.

Ciaran Donnelly, director of operations in Afghanistan for the International Rescue Committee, said the entire aid community has been affected by worsening security.

"We're not the only NGO (nongovernment organization) to have suffered an attack. Unfortunately we suffered the most egregious and most tragic of these attacks," he said Saturday.

Taliban fighters wielding Kalashnikov assault rifles killed four IRC workers, including three women, in an attack Wednesday in Logar province, just south of Kabul. A Trinidadian-American, a British-Canadian and a Canadian were killed along with their Afghan driver.

The ambush of two clearly marked aid vehicles on the main road south of Kabul was the latest in a record number of attacks on aid groups this year - a surge that has workers questioning if they can safely provide services in remote and dangerous areas where help is most needed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the women were linked to a Western military.

Despite the increasing danger, no aid groups have yet pulled out of Afghanistan, though some groups might suspend projects or move personnel out of dangerous regions, said Mohammad Hashim Mayar, deputy director for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an umbrella group for aid organizations in Afghanistan.

The president of the IRC, George Rupp, said Saturday that it was the worst tragedy in the group's 75-year history. The IRC has 10 international staff and 500 Afghan staff in Afghanistan. It has temporarily suspended operations.

"We are not only deeply saddened but also outraged at this unprovoked and wanton slaughter of four innocent victims who were committed to providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people on an impartial basis of only meeting the needs of the vulnerable," Rupp told a news conference in Kabul.

Donnelly said the IRC hadn't yet determined if their vehicle was targeted because militants knew it belonged to IRC or simply because it carried Westerners. He said the group hadn't received any threats or warnings before the attack.

The IRC, which has operated in Afghanistan since 1988, carries out educational programs and helps refugees.

The two IRC officials said they were concerned that international militaries are taking on humanitarian projects, potentially blurring the lines in the eyes of locals or militants between what humanitarian groups do and what the military does.

NATO militaries carry out reconstruction projects throughout the country.

"There are very real ethical and operational concerns that arise from the confusion between humanitarian and political and military objectives," Donnelly said.

Attacks against aid workers in Afghanistan have spiked this year. Wednesday's assault brings the number of aid workers killed in militant attacks to at least 23 compared with 15 killed in all of 2007, according to a recent report from ANSO, a security group that works for aid organizations in the country.

ANSO said 2008 was on track to be the deadliest year for aid workers in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

[downsteamjim]

The Taliban represents the true heroes of Islam. Killing unarmed women whose crime is trying to help the poor would make Mohammed proud.

[prudentvoter]

The US and NATO must maintain their claim on Afghanistan in case their pipeline in Georgia doesn%u2019t work out. That way they can run a pipeline from Azerbaijan through Afghanistan if they need to. Supporting these Aids groups will help them do that.

[imprisonkarl]

But, but, but . . . IRAQ is the center of the War on Terrorism, not Afghanistan!!

You see, the defense contractors could never rape the US Treasury as easily in Afghanistan as they can in Iraq -- there''s too much violence in Afghanistan right now -- and, oh yeah, al-Quaeda''s actually IN Afghanistan -- Bin Laden, too. So just forget about any more resources going there for a while.

The object isn''t to WIN a war anymore -- it''s to prolong it. Makes for bigger profits and, better yet, indefinite ones.

[downsteamjim]

To impersonalkarl and impruduent voter: Why is it that you have no problem with the murder of decent unarmed women? Apparently if you hate Bush anything is okay. How is your thinking different from the Taliban?

[babooph]

If all the troops left,no aid would be needed& one H of a lot of $ could go to a tax cut for the middle class-THIS TIME!

[jgunther7]

The Taliban was financed, trained and organised by the CIA to attack Russians in Afghanistan. After the Russians pulled out, the Taliban took over the country. As time went by they felt the US was ignoring them and they felt let down, used and betrayed. Now the US wants a pipeline from Azerbaijan to Pakistan and the Taliban will have to go. Women and children caught in the crossfire are just collateral damage.

[beehive21-2009]

The Aid workers have no business in a war zone,go home.

[oldpilot954]

Aid workers are in war zones all over the world because that is where the greatest need is. They are willing to take the risk of losing their lives to help the helpless. They are underpaid, over-worked and living on the edge. I have friends and acquaintances in the Middle East, Asia, Central/South America and Africa distributing food and blankets, drilling water wells to give drinking water and providing medical treatment. If they leave more innocent people, mostly children, die. I find people who sit at a computer and criticize them or try to make it a "political thing" rarely have done anything for anyone except themselves. The only ones who might have a right to criticize are those who are actually doing something.