Attacks on aid workers on rise in Afghanistan with 34 killed this year

The U.N. reported that 34 aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan this year and called for Taliban militants and other criminals to stop attacking humanitarian aid convoys, particularly with winter looming, The Associated Press reported today.

The convoys have had difficulty accessing Afghanistan’s main highways due to the increasing violence in the south.

“Those responsible for these attacks and for the insecurity are pushing the most vulnerable people outside of our reach,” Tom Koenigs, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, said. “Those responsible for these attacks need to know that they are attacking the welfare of Afghanistan’s most vulnerable communities.”

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it has been set back $750,000 in stolen aid due to attacks on aid convoys, according to BBC News. Rick Corsino, the head of WFP in Afghanistan, added that the cost of transport has increased to the heightened violence.

“In a majority of these incidents, food was looted ... and so far we have lost something like 100,000 tons of food,” Corsino said.

The continued conflict has “tremendously” worsened the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and 78 districts in the country are rated as “extremely risky” for U.N. workers to operate, Koenigs said.

“Reaching the people is not a political issue, it is a humanitarian priority,” Koenigs said.

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Negotiators working through Afghan elders to secure release of 4 Red Cross workers

Four International Red Cross workers were abducted by an “armed group” on Wednesday in the province of Wardak, located outside of Kabul. Negotiation through tribal elders will be used in lieu of military action to free the four men, two of whom are foreigners, Agence France Presse reported Thursday.

Negotiators are now in contact with the kidnappers through prominent tribal elders and influential government leaders.

This incident comes on the heels of a series of abductions of foreigners working in Afghanistan. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for some of these past abductions but denies involvement in the present kidnapping.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has played a significant role in the release of hostages in the past, including the 21 South Korean Christian aid workers that were recently released.

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