Essay Sample on Afghanistan Current Humanitarian Situation

Afghanistan has had a humanitarian crisis for the longest time in history. Taliban had gotten control of most parts of the country until 2001 when they were overthrown by the American and British forces. At the end of the active war, the Taliban were driven out of the capital city Kabul to the country's outskirts.However, the country remains a dangerous zone for human existence even today. In times of war, the common citizens of a country suffer because they don't have the resources to run away from the country that is experiencing war or engage in income-generating activities since the situation is too dangerous for that. The end result of continued war is the humanitarian crisis that mostly affects women and children who are more vulnerable. The volatile situation in the country has affected has affected various sectors of the society which include security, health, education, women and children and ultimately the war leads to a high population of IDP and Refugees (Sharp et al., 2002, pp 216). In this paper, we will look at how the humanitarian principles are best placed to serve the needs of the most vulnerable community groups and analysis of the same as well as the contemporary needs of the vulnerable groups.

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Description of the current operational environment and key challenges

A) Current Humanitarian Situation

The current humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is dire. The continued war in the country has messed every sector of the country that affects the lives of people directly leading to a miserable humanitarian situation. The United Nations and countries such as the USA have tried to put an end to the current situation even by having the presence of their militaries without success.This is not to say that they have not had an impact but the mess caused by the continued violence by the Taliban organization has extreme effects that it may take longer to resolve the conflict and manage the humanitarian crisis (Durr, 1998, pp 14).

1) Status of security Situation

Security has been volatile in Afghanistan has been volatile ever since the Taliban were pushed out of power control of the country. Active between the Afghanistan forces and the Taliban forces have continued even after the active role of war was abandoned by American forces and their allies. The Taliban organization has been believed to support terrorism for a long time in history especially against the government and sections of the society associated with the Americans. The poor security situation has made it difficult for the government of the day to attend to the needs of the people in resolving their daily challenges as citizens of Afghanistan. Due to the security situation, it has become almost impossible for aid workers to help the marginalized and those in need of the aid support because of the active criminal activities associated with lack of security as a result of the Taliban forces fighting the government forces. The war to oust Taliban regime from power created a situation of weak security systems since the government structures of security were destroyed by the war thus creating an environment for the two opposing forces in Afghanistan to continuously keep fighting for control of some regions which leaves security in limbo (Friis, 2012, pp 267).

2) Status of health Situation

The continued conflict in Afghanistan has made many health facilities to close down thus impacting negatively on the health sector in the country. There have been cases of attacks targeting some hospitals, for example, Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital. The attacks have always been associated with the Taliban organization which is viewed by the government as a terrorist organization. The supply of medical necessities such as machines and drugs is affected by the active conflict in the country. The conflict makes it impossible for the government and other non-governmental organizations to health commodities that are meant to provide quality health care. The health care providers such as nurses and doctors find it difficult to work in war zones thus they run away from the affected areas which leave a gap in the provision of health. Some of the professionals have moved to other countries where there is peace is available for them to provide health care. The war situation makes the citizens of Afghanistan especially women and children to die from preventable and curable conditions. It is the hope of every Afghanistan citizen that peace will prevail for providing healthcare to improve.

3) Status of education Situation

The UN estimates that about three million students are not attending school due to the active conflict in the country. It is extremely difficult for any parent to allow their children to go to school in war zones since they are not sure whether their children will go back home safe or even alive. There was an effort to promote the girl child education in the past to avert early marriage but that was abandoned due to the active conflict rampant in the country. The numbers of girls enrolled in school is still below 40% not forgetting that the illiteracy levels are still high in Afghanistan. This shows that education programs implemented by the post-Taliban have done little to salvage the sorry situation of the education sector in the country. Education is the key to a nation's success thus it is important for the Afghanistan government to work continuously with the aim of improving the state of education in the country (Higgins-Steele et al., 2017, pp 196).

4) Status of women and children Situation

The unending war in the country has affected social, political and economic spheres of the country. When the country has broken down to the extent that the social and economic sectors are destroyed women and children suffer more compared to men who are mostly involved in the war. For the country to grow stronger by rebuilding itself, it needs to develop proper strategies that deal with women and children who are the key players in a family unit in Afghanistan (Law, 2013, pp 5). Unfortunately, the government despite not being strong enough has done little to support the women and children who are more prone to suffering the consequences of the prolonged war. Currently, the Afghan government has tried to introduce programs for the anticipated transformation for the country that focused on Women and children among other sectors but they have not been effective due to unavailability of resources and lack of political will. The issues of human development in the country remain poor due to the unwillingness of those in authority thus extending the harmful effect of the prolonged war on women and children. Though there is the need to provide security in a volatile situation that Afghanistan finds itself in, it should not be at the cost of women and children (Muller-Stewens et al., 2019, pp 5).

B) Crisis and Key Challenges

1) Refugees and IDPs

Where there is an active conflict the crisis that is generated leads to rising cases of internally displaced persons. United nation organization and more specifically UNHCR is more responsible for monitoring the refugee and IDP situation in Afghanistan.Every person deserves a better living environment that guarantees a quality of life but this is not the reality when it comes to an IDP or a refugee. The basic amenities are not guaranteed and those affected depends on well-wishers and donations from the non-governmental organizations (Sharp et al., 2002, pp 216). Access to health care and education is not always available for Refugees and IDPs. Sometimes people become refugees in foreign countries where access to housing and employment becomes a big challenge. The active refugee situation most of whom are in the neighboring countries and in the United States is as a result of the active conflict occasioned by government forces fighting with the Taliban forces that were removed from power by the allied forces led by the united states of America (Shannon,2009, pp 17).

Analysis of the humanitarian Principles

This section presents the primary findings regarding the current research undertaken. Described herein include the main factors that at the moment tends to be constraining the space of humanitarian in Afghanistan. In particular, this discussion takes into account ways by which humanitarian principles in regards to impartiality, neutrality, together with independence stand being undermined thereby exploring how various NGOs have responded following the commencement of PRTs towards the end of 2002 (Egnell, 2010 p 282).

Spatial responsiveness under reconstruction

It is worth noting that the level of the degree of consensus tends to be surprising especially to those interviewed in that the space of humanitarian can be defined as being the operating environment whereby NGOs, irrespective of their mandate, facilitate in delivering to those in needs according to the principles of humanitarian. At the same time, the agreement undertook that the space of humanitarian expands as well as contracts. It is equally imperative to note that the various possible indicators as well may be applicable in different contexts upon which there how would be a signal indicating the extent by which humanitarian space ought to be confined or expansive (Donini, 2007 p.158).

Security constraints

Security was identifiable by the participants as one of the most significant constraints regarding the operations of NGO. It is work noting that not long ago when the fatality rate of NGO in Afghanistan was thought to be higher than any set of conflict globally. It is was agreed by all participants that issues of security had become worse during the past period, and undoubtedly the situation has worsened more as time passes. Nevertheless demarcating roles as well as identities between some of foreign Afghanistan's forces taking into consideration the PRTs involved in activities of NGO is not easy. In May 2006, the coalition combat led by the U.S. was waging the campaigns of anti-narcotics and anti-insurgency. Included in the troops of this mission include countries of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) led by the United Nations (UN) authorized a multinational force of a 10000 strong ISAF (International Security Assistance Force).

PRTs an Economy of force mission

Of all the interviewed NGOs not a single of them was vigorously involved with PRTs. It is worth noting that those polled had their contact limited to only involvement with affairs of the working group of national civil-military thereby advocating efforts geared via head offices as well as umbrella groups in North America together with Europe. This can be considered to be a matter of principle as well as security reasons. It also assists in giving an explanation as to why none of the contacted NGOs had to have their programs adjusted or else confront challenges to access communities because of the presence of PRT. Nevertheless, in the view that PRTs ought not to have a direct impact on the NGOs' program contacted for the study, they happen to have an effect on the enjoyed associations with local communities.

Analyses of the humanitarian needs

It is noted that for the first nine months of the year about 69,000 cases of war trauma have been recorded in the country and about 94 which makes nearly half of it ought to be referred to thereby being treated at the leading hospitals of Kabul and Helmand (Slim, 2018 p318). All this attribute to about 21 percent increase for that period 2016 in accordance with UNOCHA (2015). It is imperative to note that the majority of the injuries at the results in long-lasting disability that includes loss of limbs, together with impairments of cognitive and vision. It is also undertaken that various districts in the country have no provision regarding trauma care.