International Community in
Afghanistan continues....

A significant repercussion of the Operation Enduring Freedom was the massive population displacement that took place due to the fear of the US strikes. Even before U.S. air strikes began, thousands of Afghan civilians began fleeing Kabul and other cities likely to be targeted by U.S. and allied forces. Since all of Afghanistan’s neighbours kept their borders closed and refused to permit fleeing Afghans to enter, a large majority became internally displaced.

All international UN and NGO personnel working in Afghanistan, including relief personnel, left Afghanistan between September 11 and October 6, many moving to their organizations’ offices in Pakistan. After U.S. air strikes began, the Taleban prohibited all communication between Afghan UN and NGO staff and their departed expatriate colleagues. The departure of expatriate staff, the ban on communications, and the start of U.S. military strikes seriously curtailed relief activities that even before September 11 were insufficient to reach the more than six million Afghans who were partially or wholly dependent on food aid. One report found that conditions inside Afghanistan “deteriorated dramatically” between September 11 and early October.