Debate over relations between aid community and the coalition

A recent declaration by the new US commander in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen David Barno, to the effect that aid groups must accept that they can no longer be neutral, has prompted discussion about the role of humanitarian organisations in regions where security is poor. His comments followed a series of attacks on UN and NGO aid workers in the south over the past two months. Such attacks have forced the UN and other aid groups to withdraw from some regions, thereby undermining aid delivery and confidence in the reconstruction efforts of the US-backed government ahead of elections slated for June. "I am now completely shocked by Barno's words and apparent intent, which indicates not only his lack of knowledge but also a complete disregard for the security of the NGO community," Nick Downie, a coordinator for the Afghan NGOs Security Office (ANSO), told IRIN on Tuesday. In an interview with the AP news agency on 20 December, the US commander of the 1,100-strong coalition force in Afghanistan said that, in a significant switch in strategy, US troops planned to set up bases to provide security, reconstruction and aid in the southern and eastern provinces, which are plagued by Taliban attacks. Borno added the move would make those areas safer for aid workers and pave the way for the June elections. But observers say that, given its current resources, the coalition forces would be hard pressed to provide proper security. "We don't have the capacity in the coalition to [provide protection] in every town, in every village across the country, but we can provide a great deal of assistance and intelligence-sharing," Barno was quoted as saying. ANSO argues that the proposal for aid workers to forego their hard-won neutrality would be the loss of the long-standing and effective principles of protection afforded by communities through acceptance. "It appears that he endeavours to breach those principles of humanitarian neutrality and intent; in doing so he implicates combat with humanitarianism. I now fear that the safety of humanitarians is at further risk," Downie stressed. US officials in the capital, Kabul, told IRIN that security was everyone's responsibility. "We hope to provide security that IOs [international organisations] and NGOs need, [but] the coalition cannot do this alone, it will take the UN, the IOs, NGOs and the government of Afghanistan [to do it]," Lt-Col Brian Hilferty, a spokesman for the US-led coalition forces, told IRIN in Kabul on Tuesday. Hilferty said coalition military units engaged in humanitarian work, known as Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), had so far been deployed in areas from which aid agencies had already withdrawn due to insecurity, so it was unlikely that the PRTs would be confused with neutral NGOs or UN agencies. "We hope to work with them [aid organisations], but understandably away from them so that they are not tied in to the military," he said. The French-based agency Action contre la Faim (ACF) also expressed concern about a possible obfuscation of humanitarian and military roles. "This kind of statement maintains confusion between military and aid workers and therefore jeopardises our security," Frederic Bardou, the ACF country director, told IRIN. The International Committee for Red Cross (ICRC) has already said it cannot not operate under military protection. "It is very clear that we disagree with comments that there is no room for neutrality in Afghanistan. We do not work under military protection and if we do so, it could endanger our work today and in future," said Helge Kvam, an ICRC information officer. But the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) believes that given the current circumstances where neutrality is rarely respected anyway, sometimes humanitarian workers require military protection. "We assume with the bombing of UN and ICRC in Baghdad, apparently there are people in the world who do not respect that [neutrality] any more," Maarten Roest, a WFP public information officer, told IRIN. According to the WFP, the attacks over the past year have targeted both the military and soft targets, including the UN and ICRC. "So the question is, what do you have to do to provide humanitarian assistance?" Roest asked, noting that some operations in parts of the country were already receiving military protection. "I think what kind of protection humanitarian assistance requires should be discussed," he said.