Humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan have steadily deteriorated in recent years due to the protracted conflict and recurrent natural disaster—particularly drought, flash floods, and other extreme weather. An intensified conflict in 2011 caused further civilian casualties and displacement, delayed humanitarian action and disrupted essential services. The planned withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan over the next three years risks disrupting local economies and hindering humanitarian and development action.
Resurgent conflict across the country and endemic environmental hazards render the majority of Afghanistan‘s 30.4 million people1 chronically or acutely vulnerable. While coping mechanisms and some forms of assistance do exist, the seemingly endless cycle of human suffering continues unabated.
Key humanitarian indicators have steadily deteriorated in Afghanistan in recent years as a result of protracted conflict, recurrent environmental hazards and a combination of under-development and development failure.
The failure to closely link the work of humanitarian and development actors in Afghanistan has caused challenges associated with recurrent environmental hazards to persist. Limited snow and rainfall during the past winter and spring caused a slow-onset drought, which affected the food security of people in 14 provinces in 2011. The drought (which is the eighth in 11 years) reflects the critical importance of implementing not just short-term humanitarian relief, but also longer-term resilience-building measures. It prompted the revision of the 2011 CAP on 2 October 2011 to include US$2142 million to ensure immediate assistance to affected people through September 2012.
The United Nations (UN) has been present in Afghanistan some 40 years. Today there are 28 UN agencies, funds and programmes operating in the country alongside the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. It is estimated that more than 3,000 local organizations are engaged in various forms of development assistance; 190 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are registered with the Afghanistan NGO Coordinating Bureau. A comprehensive review of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan mandate in Afghanistan is scheduled for late 2011.