KABUL (Agencies): Thousands of families are fleeing their homes amidintensified Taliban offensives in several provinces, as the United Statesand NATO began withdrawing their remaining forces from Afghanistan on May1. “Most of those displaced are from the provinces of Helmand, Kandahar,Baghlan and Laghman,” said Sayed Abdul Basit Ansari, a spokesman forAfghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation. “They fled theirhouses due to the escalation in violence.”
Ansari said that in Laghman province, which has witnessed heavy fightingbetween the Taliban and the Afghan government forces in recent weeks, 6,000families have fled their homes. The Taliban captured a district in Laghmanand launched an assault on Mehtar Lam City, the provincial capital, lastweek.
Gul Meena, a resident of the Alingar district of Laghman province, hastaken refuge in a makeshift camp in a park in Mehtar Lam City. She said sheleft her house because of the fighting in her district. “I am here with mygrandchildren and daughters,” she said. “My son stayed behind. I am tryingto call him, but his phone is not working.”
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA), as of May 21, about 100,000 people had been displaced by conflictin Afghanistan this year. OCHA reported that 404,100 people in Afghanistanwere displaced in 2020 because of violence, which brought the total ofinternally displaced people (IDP) in the country to 3.55 million by the endof 2020.
Imranullah, 20, who fled his house with nothing, said his family and theother displaced people were in desperate need of help. Imranullah, likemany Afghans, goes by one name. “We do not have food, no shelter. We havenothing,” he said. He added that officials have visited their makeshiftcamp in Mehtar Lam City but did not provide them with assistance. “Theycome here, make empty promises and then leave,” he said. The AfghanistanMinistry of Refugees and Repatriation said it had assisted about 1,000 outof 6,000 displaced families in the province.
But Lal Gul, chairman of the Afghanistan Human Rights Organization, said“the humanitarian response to the new IDPs was not adequate.” He called oninternational humanitarian organizations to step in. “These families are indire need for humanitarian assistance. No one has helped them,” Gul said.“The Afghan government does not have the capacity to address the needs ofthe large number of IDPs,
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and international humanitarian organizations have not helped them.” Heexpressed concern about the escalation of violence that could force morepeople from their homes. “It is clear that If they [parties in theconflict] do not agree to a cease-fire, we will have more IDPs,” Gul said.The fighting started last week after the Taliban overran Dawlat Shah, thenorthern district in the province. After capturing several outposts inAlishing and Alingar districts, the Taliban launched an assault on MehtarLam City.
Provincial officials in Laghman said that security forces had pushed theTaliban back from the city. But local people said government forces werestill fighting the Taliban on the outskirts of Mehtar Lam City. “Thefighting has not ceased,” said Bilal Sarwari, an Afghan freelancejournalist, adding that “sporadic fighting has continued on the outskirtsand some parts of the city.” Sarwari said the Taliban advances on MehtarLam City were stopped only when reinforcements were sent from Kabul and airattacks were carried out against the Taliban positions around the city.Located east of Kabul, Laghman is strategically important because theKabul-Jalalabad Highway that connects Kabul to eastern provinces passesthrough the province.
Afghan officials said that the Afghan security forces were fighting againstthe Taliban in 104 districts across the country. The Taliban have capturedat least four districts in the past two weeks as the US and NATO havestarted withdrawing their remaining forces from Afghanistan. The US plansto pull out all its forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021
