Passing a checkpoint in the Daru-Laman district of Kabul. While negotiating passage, an ICRC delegate distributes bandages and brochures on international humanitarian law (IHL) and the ICRC’s mandate − Afghanistan is the ICRC’s second-largest operation worldwide, and one of the contexts where the consequences of a polarizing world are acutely felt. The greatest challenge to the operation is to be accepted as a neutral and independent humanitarian actor, to make all parties understand that the ICRC’s sole motive is to protect and assist all victims of conflict. Not since the ICRC established its permanent presence in Afghanistan in 1987 has it faced as severe restrictions on its work as it does at present.