This is how bad the humanitarian situation is in Afghanistan right now: Austrian mother and child fall eight meters from a chairlift

The few weeks that Daniel Timme, UNICEF communications chief in Afghanistan, has been working in Kabul have been unprecedentedly rigorous. In this short time he has already experienced two major humanitarian disasters: on October 7, there was a major earthquake in Herat in the west of the country, the magnitude of which was exceeded by two subsequent earthquakes. In the east and south of the country, thousands of Afghans who fled to Pakistan have been returning to Afghanistan since November as the government deports them. All this is happening while the population is suffering under the Taliban government and the country is in economic crisis.

Daniel Timme sits in a cordoned off security area during the video call with Watson in the UNICEF office. Free movement is difficult, he says. When almost everything was razed to the ground within ten days during the earthquake in Herat in October 2023, the aid organization’s office there was also hit. Although nothing happened to his employees, as Timme assures us, the earthquakes claimed more than 2,000 lives, according to Taliban spokespeople.

Winter is coming

The timing of the earthquake is particularly unfavorable because winter is approaching and it will be freezing in Afghanistan with temperatures down to minus 25 degrees. That is why UNICEF is supporting the population in the affected areas to winterize their homes. “Because we assume that the people there know best what they need, we give them cash,” says Timme. This would be used to build mud houses with temporary roofs and to buy warm clothes and fuel for heating.

“Clean water is always particularly important after such disasters, as dirty water promotes the spread of disease,” Timme adds. That is why water is delivered to the area in a tanker every day and water purifiers are distributed that use chemicals to make polluted water drinkable. Because the earthquakes caused all infrastructure to collapse, makeshift health centers have now been built and children are taught in makeshift schools.

Fleeed back to their own country

Meanwhile, a new man-made catastrophe is unfolding in the east and south of the country: since the beginning of November, Afghans living in neighboring Pakistan without a residence permit have been forced to return to their country of origin. This may affect 1.7 million people, including those who have lived in Afghanistan for years or even never before. The Pakistani government has cited the increase in terrorist attacks that have recently caused fear and terror in the country as the reason for the expulsion. These are carried out by Islamists from the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistani security authorities believe that Afghan refugees were involved in the planning of these attacks.

That is why thousands of refugees now arrive every day at the border with Pakistan in the east and south of the country. People wait for days before they can pass through. Afghan families queue for 40 kilometers – in the mountainous border area, which is considered very unsafe due to the many unsecured landmines. People often only have what they have on their bodies as they were sometimes asked to leave Pakistan overnight. They have no warm clothes, food and water. “Children in particular are in a very vulnerable situation,” says Timme.

The situation of the children

It is all the more important that aid organizations such as UNICEF are available to provide assistance in camps near border crossings – such as Torkham. When children arrive – often unaccompanied by an adult – they are first registered by the authorities. Unicef ​​​​ensures that healthcare is guaranteed on site and that sanitary facilities are available. The children are housed in so-called “child-friendly centers” where they are cared for by trained social workers.

This eases the psyche of the traumatized children, Timme explains: “There they can just be children and forget for a moment what is happening around them.” This would also provide an opportunity to determine if the children have been exposed to abuse or have health problems. “We can then refer them to colleagues who can provide them with medical or psychological care or ensure that the children are not exposed to violence.”

3.2 million people are malnourished

From the camp, the flows of people then move on to their homeland, to their relatives. For the people waiting there, their arrival is bittersweet, because now even more people have to be fed with resources that are already far too limited. 3.2 million people in Afghanistan lack food and suffer from life-threatening malnutrition. 900,000 of them are in mortal danger due to acute hunger.

With a potentially 1.7 million additional needy people arriving, the situation will continue to deteriorate. About half of the country’s children are unable to develop properly mentally or physically due to chronic malnutrition. The main foods eaten are bread, rice and lentils. The fact that Afghanistan is particularly hard hit by climate change is evident from the droughts and floods that ravage the country, exacerbating food shortages caused by crop failures. UNICEF is also represented in municipalities across the country. For example, they distribute nutritional supplements to prevent malnutrition and ensure that newcomers can integrate as best as possible.

Difficult working environment for aid organizations

“In addition, the situation for women and girls has deteriorated extremely since the regime change. The girls are only allowed to go to school until the sixth grade, and no more after that,” Timme says in the video call. This is obviously something that UNICEF condemns; they therefore call on the government to reconsider its policy. Not only because everyone should have the same right to education, but also because it is not conducive to the economic development of a country if half of the population is excluded from the labor market and social life.

Since the regime change, adult women are only allowed to leave the house accompanied by a man: the father, the son, the husband. The Taliban have now introduced an exceptional order allowing women to work again, at least in the education and healthcare sectors. However, because the government is organized decentrally, the implementation of the law differs from region to region. “If the employees of cooperating aid organizations cannot move without a man accompanying them, this means an enormous amount of extra work for us.” For a business trip, an extra man would have to be called in, which of course would cost twice as much.

A tightrope walk

Even though UNICEF fundamentally contradicts the Taliban on many points, in practice a solution can usually be found for the way in which the aid organizations can implement their programs. “Because they understand that we do important work here in the country, they tolerate us.” Working in countries where the government is not internationally recognized is always a balancing act.

Because international funds have been frozen since the regime change, UNICEF is more dependent than ever on its clients. “Whatever political power is at the helm of a country: the children cannot do anything about it,” Timme emphasizes. The well-being of the children comes first, no matter how complicated the cooperation with the authorities. “We have been here for 70 years and are not thinking about leaving,” Timme confirms with a confident smile.