Aid needed for Afghan IDPs

After the United Nations and the Afghan government halted relief operations at the Mukhtar camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) last year, impoverished conditions and a lack of medical and educational necessities has left the inhabitants of the camp pleading for assistance, Integrated Regional Information Networks reported Sunday.

While the many of the 20,000 original camp inhabitants have returned to their homes, 5,000 families continue to reside at the camp without the proper facilities. Faez Mohammad, a camp resident, describes the situation at Mukhtar: “No one helps us here. Our patients suffer a variety of diseases in the absence of medical services. Our children are deprived of education because there is no school at our camp. There is no work we can do to support our families.”

In addition to being displaced, many families also face ethnic persecution due to tense relations with Uzbek militias: “Because I am a Pashtoon, Uzbek militias will accuse me of collaboration with the Taliban. It is very easy for them to kill, torture and detain Pashtoons under meaningless pretexts,” said Shah Alaam, an IDP from northern Jozjan province.

According to UNHCR country director, Salvatore Lombardo, the total number of Afghan IDPs has dropped from over one million in 2002 to less than 160,000.

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