International Community in
Afghanistan continues....

Although U.S. military airplanes dropped large numbers of food aid packets over Afghanistan during the military action, many relief groups considered the move primarily a public-relations exercise, since the amounts of food air-dropped were insignificant compared to the scale of the need, and were sometimes not usable by local people. The United States, already the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to Afghan civilians, pledged an additional $320 million to UN and NGO relief efforts for Afghan civilians and refugees.

U.S. military air strikes and Afghan opposition forces’ ground offensives succeeded in ousting the Taleban from most of northern and western Afghanistan by mid-November. Mazar-e-Sharif fell to opposition forces on November 9; Taloqan, in northeastern Afghanistan, fell on November 11, and western Afghanistan’s main city, Herat, fell on November 13. Also on November 13, almost all Taleban forces and government officials abandoned Kabul and headed south.

Initially, the Taleban’s collapse in northern Afghanistan left what one group labelled a “vacuum of power” that opened the way for banditry by armed groups of all persuasions (e.g. former Taleban, opposition fighters, and common criminals). Many areas became too unsafe even for Afghan relief personnel to operate. UN staff that had returned to Mazar-e-Sharif after its fall to opposition forces again evacuated the city because of “sporadic fighting and shooting.”

To be continued...