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Afghanistan 20 years on: endless suffering, startling resilience

04-06-2007 Photo gallery

This retrospective marks the 20th anniversary of the ICRC’s permanent presence in Afghanistan. It is meant to serve as a record of the unbearable suffering inflicted upon the Afghan people by 28 years of miserable war and as a tribute to their resilience.

  • Photo, since the beginning of the armed conflict in 1980, Kabul’s industry and infrastructure have suffered terribly, and many residential areas have been almost completely destroyed.
    • Since the beginning of the armed conflict in 1980, Kabul’s industry and infrastructure have suffered terribly, and many residential areas have been almost completely destroyed.
      © ICRC / Franco Pagetti / v-p-af-d-00095

    The conflict in Afghanistan has significantly intensified and spread from the south and east to the north and west since 2006. Afghan civilians are extremely vulnerable in the face of this escalation (suicide bombs, aerial bombing raids, general insecurity) as well as the recurrent natural disasters such as the recent floods and many droughts over the years. Five years after the fall of the Taliban regime, Afghanistan is today further from stability than ever.

  • Photo, passing a checkpoint in the Daru-Laman district of Kabul.
    • Passing a checkpoint in the Daru-Laman district of Kabul.
      © ICRC / Thierry Gassman / v-p-af-n-00178-09

    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.

  • Photo, ICRC surgical team operating on war-wounded in a Kabul hospital supported by the organization.
    • ICRC surgical team operating on war-wounded in a Kabul hospital supported by the organization.
      © ICRC / Jean-Pierre Kolly / v-p-af-n-00013-05a

    The ICRC is one of the only humanitarian actors that has maintained a continuous presence in Afghanistan throughout the four successive conflicts of the last 28 years. It remains committed to assisting the beleaguered Afghan population. While some field movements are restricted for security reasons, the ICRC continues to support medical structures in the south and east, in particular where increasing numbers of war-wounded are treated.Jean-Pierre Kolly

  • Photo, Peshawar, Pakistan, 1982. An ICRC delegate explains Red Cross movement principles to a group of Afghans.
    • Peshawar, Pakistan, 1982. An ICRC delegate explains Red Cross movement principles to a group of Afghans.
      © ICRC / Thierry Gassman / v-p-pk-n-00014-14

    With the significant intensification of the conflict over the past months, the ICRC has increased its calls to all parties to the conflict to respect and apply international humanitarian law in their conduct of hostilities and to spare and protect civilians. Finding a way to pass critical messages regarding the principles of IHL is essential for the organization to be able to carry out its work. Sometimes pointing out links between the values of the ICRC and those found in the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, can help in passing these messages and in creating a general understanding about the ICRC’s work.

  • Photo, a mine victim learning to walk with her new prothesis.
    • A mine victim learning to walk with her new prothesis.
      © ICRC / Adrian Brooks / v-p-af-d-00072-11

    Since 1988, the ICRC has been involved in orthopaedic and rehabilitation assistance to the disabled, from landmine victims to those with motor impairment. The organization provides the disabled with opportunities for social reintegration through micro-credit programmes, once physical rehabilitation is completed. Victims are given loans to start small businesses in a former trade or learn a new one (e.g. tailor, rug-maker, woodsman), allowing people to get on with their lives without having to depend on others, as beneficiaries often put it, ‘with dignity’. The ICRC has treated nearly 77,000 orthopaedic patients since 1988, including 32,000 amputees. The ICRC currently runs six orthopaedic centres in Kabul, Mazar, Herat, Gulbahar, Faizabad and Jalalabad.

  • Photo, Faryab province. Emergency assistance to families whose homes and belongings were destroyed by heavy floods in May 2006.

    While the ICRC in Afghanistan stopped its relief activities in 2003, it continues to provide emergency food and non-food items to victims displaced by fighting and living without shelter, as well as to those severely affected by natural disasters, jointly with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS). There is the ever-present risk that fighting will escalate as the parties push to strengthen their negotiating positions, and the ongoing cycle of natural disasters can begin again without warning. The Afghan people have endured enormous hardship and the ICRC remains ready and able to assist them, regardless of how the conflict evolves.

  • Photo, ICRC emergency medical post for war-wounded in Mir Bachakot.

    The ICRC has focused over many years on improving long-term national and local capacity of major hospitals in Afghanistan, which has had a considerable positive impact on the quality of care available to the war-wounded, including trauma care for victims. It also provides strong training support through surgical seminars and by training Afghan Red Crescent community-based first aid (CBFA) volunteers. 10,000 of these volunteers bring first aid and health care to remote areas, including the 16 most war-affected provinces. The ICRC’s wide coverage through sub-delegations and ICRC offices allows it to react quickly to the needs of victims by providing war-wounded supplies where they are needed.

  • Photo, ICRC warehouse near the airport in Kabul.

    Flour destined for distribution to the most vulnerable families − those led by widows or amputees.

  • Photo, ICRC delegates in discussion with officers at Pul-I-Charki prison prior to visiting detainees.

    The ICRC has worked in Afghan prisons for many years, to protect and assist people who have been detained as a result of the consecutive conflicts and other situations of violence, by Afghan authorities and forces such as the United States and NATO. Delegates regularly assess the conditions of detention, the treatment of detainees and respect of their fundamental judicial guarantees, through one-on-one interviews (without detaining authorities present). The ICRC facilitates contact with their families through the exchange of Red Cross messages (RCMs). Many Afghan detainees have qualified this support as ‘invaluable’, and as ‘giving them the courage to carry on’, despite the extreme hardship of incarceration.

  • Photo, the ICRC brings news of a prisoner to his family in Kabul.

    The ICRC ensures that detainees maintain contact with their families through Red Cross messages (RCM). Over 6,000 have been delivered in 2007 alone, with the help of the Afghan Red Crescent.

  • Photo, women reading brochures on mine awareness in Kabul.

    Together with the ARCS, the ICRC promotes safe behaviour through mine risk education sessions with communities at risk. It also supports the objective of the ARCS of preventing injuries and fatalities caused by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) by gathering information on the cause of accidents and the location of mines and ERW. This information is shared with de-mining agencies.

  • Photo, Kabul was already vastly destroyed in 1996.

  • ICRC health promoters teaching hygiene awareness and healthier living habits in the poorest neighbourhoods of Kabul.

  • Photo, 1996. A mine victim at the ICRC orthopaedic centre in Kabul.
  • Photo, Anjumana pass, 2001.

    A convoy of ICRC supplies passing through the Panjshir valley.

  • Photo, 1998. ICRC distribution of relief items to families led by widows and amputees.
  • Photo, an anxious family displaced from Kabul receives a Red Cross message.

    Sar Shai camp for internally displaced people in Jalalabad, 1996.

  • Photo, 1990. Patients awaiting a consultation at the Afghan Red Crescent dispensary in Kabul.
  • Photo, 1989. ICRC evaluation mission in the Panjshir valley.

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