Afghanistan:
On the Road to Recovery
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| WFP Photo/Mike Huggins |
Spontaneous returns of Afghans from neighbouring countries have been gaining momentum. However, because of the fragile security situation and continuing effects of drought and a devastated economy, UNHCR cautioned against an immediate mass return of the more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees. Many who have returned - more than 105,000 in January alone - have not moved back home but to urban areas considered safe, in particular to Kabul and Herat, putting even more pressure on the already overstretched service capacities of the cities. On 15 February, announcing it would open voluntary repatriation centres in Iran and Pakistan, UNHCR said it was ready to repatriate up to 250,000 over the next months, anticipating that by the end of the year some 800,000 refugees, as well as 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Afghanistan, would return home.
The World Food Programme (WFP) on 5 February launched a US$285-million programme to provide immediate relief, as well as support for long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction, in Afghanistan. Assisting about 6 million people, the Agency said its Afghanistan effort was “the largest, most complicated and most dangerous food aid programme ever carried out by WFP in its nearly forty years of existence”. A city-wide food distribution in Mazar-e-Sharif began in early February - the third such distribution this year after Herat and Kabul. Starting in April, WFP plans to shift its focus from relief to recovery, with particular emphasis on school feeding for education.
Still, insecurity and banditry continue to hamper relief efforts in many parts of the country. Three entire provinces in the east - Pakhtia, Khost and Paktika - remained practically off-limits for humanitarian workers. In numerous districts in southwestern Afghanistan, several main roads remained extremely dangerous. The situation in Mazar-e-Sharif almost led to the evacuation of UN staff, while in Gardez UN local staff actually had to be evacuated. On 15 January, a WFP food convoy was held at gunpoint in the northern city of Aibak. Even in areas that are considered relatively safe, such as Herat and Kabul, the security environment for relief workers remains fragile.
The United Nations presented a framework of funding priorities for the country’s recovery at the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan, held from 21 to 22 January in Tokyo, Japan. Attended by representatives from 61 countries and 21 international organizations, the high-level Conference demonstrated the strong commitment of the international donor community to provide Afghanistan with reconstruction assistance. Participants agreed on the urgency of rapid disbursement to ensure the functioning of the Interim Authority, and pledged over US$4.5 billion, including commitments of US$1.8 billion for 2002.
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WFP Photo/Clive Shirley |
Addressing the Conference, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed that the two most immediate concerns were to ensure security - “the number one preoccupation” of everyone - and the need for the Interim Authority to have the resources to pay public servants. “Without resources”, he warned, “the Administration will quickly lose credibility and be unable to extend its authority elsewhere in the country, thereby undermining the chances of the longer-term peace process.”
Stressing that “immediate injections of cash at the community level” through labour-intensive projects would allow the Afghan people to “see the peace dividend for themselves”, UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima urged the international community to “ensure that Afghanistan’s women, who have for so long suffered exclusion, abuse and the loss of their rights, are now supported to play a full role in the country's reconstruction”.
The two-day Conference provided donor Governments from around the world with the opportunity to review two UN studies on the most pressing human needs in Afghanistan. Prepared by UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, “Preliminary Needs Assessment for Recovery and Reconstruction” outlines the scale of the challenge across a number of sectors, such as creating a comprehensive health system, rehabilitating infrastructure and reviving the banking system. The study estimates that the reconstruction of Afghanistan will cost some US$15 billion over the next decade - about US$5 billion in the first two and a half years, the period spanning the current Interim Authority and the Transitional Government due to follow.
At the Tokyo Conference, the United Nations also presented its “Immediate and Transitional Assistance Programme for the Afghan People 2002”, on requirements for immediate relief, recovery and reconstruction, as well as reintegration. Quick-impact programmes could enable the enrolment of 1.5 million children in primary school within the next two years, and over the next six months, 100,000 food-for-work jobs could be created and water restored to 15,000 households on an emergency basis. The study estimates that some US$1.33 billion will be required this year, including US$237 million for recurrent costs of the Interim Authority, US$376 million for quick impact projects and US$736 million for other humanitarian assistance.
Following the Conference, joint technical missions from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations system were conducting field visits to assess immediate development needs in the key sectors identified by the Interim Authority - education; health; infrastructure, including roads and civil aviation, energy, water supply and sanitation; agriculture; and support to local governance and community-driven development. Identifying immediate priorities, such as investments and capacity-building, as well as urgently required legislative and regulatory actions, the missions will formulate operating principles for implementation, including policy and institutional framework, as well as approaches on environment, gender and other social issues.
On 28 February, as a follow-up to the Tokyo Conference, a new international appeal for US$1.18 billion was launched in Kabul to support the Interim Authority in establishing peace and stability. The appeal also covers recurrent costs, including the salaries of civil servants, as the Afghan authorities are unlikely to be able to collect taxes in the foreseeable future. In earlier Afghan Governments, about 43 per cent of civil servants were women.
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