Afghanistan: 'We feel exposed to greater risks now' - local aid workers

Local NGOs and Afghans working for international agencies have voiced concern about their security after hundreds of UN international staff were temporarily relocated outside Afghanistan for security reasons.
 
“Scaling down the UN’s presence is very worrying for all Afghans and in particular NGOs, because they will become softer targets for the armed opposition,” Khial Shah, head of the Agency for Rehabilitation and Energy Conservation in Afghanistan (AREA), told IRIN.
 
“NGOs have to reassess their security, programmes and activities in light of the security threats and the reduction of UN operational capacity,” said Laurent Saillard, director of ACBAR, which groups over 100 Afghan and foreign NGOs working in Afghanistan.
 
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said some UN staff will be temporarily relocated inside and outside the country due to security threats.
 
"We are not talking about pulling out," said Kai Eide, special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, at a press conference in Kabul on 5 November. "We are not talking about evacuation."
 
The short-term relocation comes a week after five UN international employees were killed in an attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul. Taliban insurgents reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack and vowed further attacks on UN agencies and staff.
 
The UN has over 1,300 international and over 4,000 national staff in Afghanistan.
 
National staff
 
Several Afghans working for the UN told IRIN of their concerns for their personal security and vulnerability.
 
“We feel exposed to greater risks now. I hope the organization will seek ways to mitigate risks to national staff as well,” said one UN Afghan staff member who preferred anonymity.
 

Photo: Khaled Nahiz/IRIN Some UN staff will be temporarily relocated inside and outside Afghanistan for security reasons

Aleem Siddique, a UNAMA spokesman, sought to reassure UN national staff: “We are particularly concerned about the security of our national staff,” he told IRIN, adding that the organization would enhance protection and security for all UN staff.
 
Local aid workers have been killed, kidnapped and harassed more than international UN and NGO workers, according to figures from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO).
 
In the first nine months of 2009, 18 Afghan NGO employees were killed and six wounded in security incidents, ANSO reported in October.
 
“Afghan aid workers are wrongly labelled as spies and collaborators of foreign forces,” said AREA’s Shah, adding that local staff faced greater risks in their homes and communities because of their identifiable association with NGOs and other international organizations.
 
Impact on NGO projects?
 
Although UNAMA has said hundreds of essential staff will remain in the country to maintain programmes, some NGOs have expressed concern about the possible impact on their projects.
 
“We do our work in close partnership with UN agencies and if they reduce their staff numbers it will adversely impact our projects and activities,” Abdul Sataar Siddique, programme director of the NGO Coordination of Afghan Relief, told IRIN.
 
However, the UN has given assurances of its commitment to the Afghan people: “Every effort will be made to minimize disruption to our activities while these additional security steps are being taken,” UNAMA said in a statement on 5 November.
 
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