Dateline ACT

Afghanistan 03/01

ACT in Afghanistan

Geneva, September 18, 2001
Three years of drought and a continuing civil war threaten the lives of millions of people in Afghanistan.

Despite the current military tension in and around Afghanistan ACT members and partners remain committed to help civilian Afghans through their plight.

For many - not least many of Afghanistan's children - the current alternative to food aid is starvation. In response to this situation, ACT members have so far raised some US $ 2.5 million in order to deliver much needed assistance to more than 60,000 families during 2001. A new ACT Appeal for Afghanistan is expected to be ready soon.

The current withdrawal of international aid workers, including those from the ACT Alliance, can mean a rapid deterioration of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Particularly if the withdrawal continues over longer time.

Civilians caught
- between war, drought & closed borders

Vulnerable target
- for likely American military action

Water, water
- water levels are down by 20 meters

Women
- photo feature: There, yet not there

Under normal circumstances ACT members deliver food aid to some of the most needy people in Afghanistan - for instance widows and their children. They also assist villagers re-establish dried out well and irrigation channels in some of the worst drought affected areas as well as provide shelter materials and basic health care to poor communities.

Christian Aid, Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid are the ACT members working in Afghanistan. All three work closely with a number of experienced national Afghan relief and development organisations.

Because of such partnerships, ACT members are in a position to respond in many parts of rural eastern, central, western and northern Afghanistan as well as in and around bigger cities such as Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Strategy for coming winter
These weeks a new ACT emergency appeal for Afghanistan is being drawn up for the coming month and particularly for the coming winter. By then, harsh temperatures, snow and the isolation of many communities are expected to lead to a significant worsening of the current crisis in Afghanistan.

Depending on how the military and political situation develops, a new ACT appeal may have to include more assistance to displaced and refugees. But this will be a set back for the intentions of ACT International.

"We have to help people where they live," stress Marvin Parvez of Church World Service. "All our efforts are aimed at that: Providing people with food and seeds and water for drinking and irrigation so they can make it through the winter in their homestead. If we're successful, these people will then be ready to grow their own crops as soon as the rain or snow comes. Working in this matter we hope to limit significantly the number of people who eventually end of in displacement camps or attempt to flee to for instance Pakistan."

Working in Afghanistan
The current military and political crisis surrendering Afghanistan in the wake of the terror attacks on the US, is not the only problems facing aid workers .As has been highlighted by recent crack downs on several Christian organisations working in Afghanistan, the working environment is extremely difficult even at the best of times.

Over many years though, ACT members in Afghanistan have been able to do very valuable work for the poorest sections of the Afghan communities.

All ACT members and their partners have very strict guidelines for their work and for the behavior of their staff. In Afghanistan as every where else ACT members work, they adhere to the so called "Code of Conduct" in relief aid. This Code of Conduct among other stipulate that "Aid will be not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint".

The Code of Conduct also stipulates that "Aid is given regardless of the race, creed or nationality of the recipients and without adverse distinction of any kind. Aid priorities are calculated on the basis of need alone."

Text & Photos: Nils Carstensen (ACT International)

Photos: Please see