- Security
Security
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Report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, Sept. 2015
The Secretary General's report includes concerns sorrouding the announcement of Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar's death and the affect it might have on the peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban. The report also states that in a positive development in support of peace, representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban held their first official, direct talks, in Murree, Pakistan on 7 July. The report also noted that the period witnessed a significant increase in reports of intra-insurgent violence between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its affiliates with the Taliban.
SG Report to the GASC Sept.2015.pdf -
Humanitarian Outcomes: Aid Worker Security Report 2015, July 2015
Humanitarian Outcomes, an independent team of professionals providing research and policy advice, publish their 2015 report on security incidents against aid workers. This is based on the data captured in their Aid Worker Security Database, which can be viewed via https://aidworkersecurity.org/Once again, Afghanistan was the most dangerous place for aid workers in 2014, with 54 major attacks on aid workers.
ho_aidworkersecuritypreview2015_0.pdf -
Report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, June 2015
In his quarterly report to the General Assembly Security Council, the Secretary General outlines the current situation in Afghanistan. For this period he reports a 43% increase in the number of armed clashes in the Taliban's spring offensive, compared to the same period in 2014. Large-scale attacks included a suicide bomber in the entrance to a busy bank in Jalalabad and an attack on a guesthouse in Kabul. The failure to hold Parliamentary elections is resulting in the decline of international funding to this process. And a high level commission on migration has been established, to address issues relating to high level returnee numbers and the wider displacement crisis.
SG Report to the GASC June2015.pdf -
Report of the SRSG for Afghanistan to the Security Council, June 2015
The Special Representative of the Secreatary General, and head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom, presented his comments in a Security Council discussion of the latest report of the Secretary General on the situation in Afghanistan (see here). Comments include the increasing number of foreign fighters in the country and concerns regarding efforts by Islamic State to gain a foothold in the insecure country. The absense of a full cabinet has delayed political progress, but the end is in sight with most appointments now confirmed. He ends with the hope for political leadership in delivering a lasting peace and reconciliation process, without which development is near impossible.
SRSG_Briefing_Security_Council_June 2015.pdf -
Child Soldiers International: Underage recruitment and use of children by armed forces & insurgents in Afghanistan, June 2015
In July 2015 the Afghan government endorsed a 15-point plan which, along with a 2011 Action plan, aims to end underage recruitment and use of children in the armed forces. However, almost a year after, serious concerns remain, with child recruitment continuing and efforts to demobilise and rehabilitate child soldiers stymied by the insecurity. The Afghan government’s institutional ability to implement its international commitments and adhere to its own national laws and policies remains stretched. Meanwhile poverty continues to be the main driver behind underage recruitment with many children joining the Afghan National or Local Police to support their families.Aimed at the UN Security Council Working Group, Child Soldiers International's report highlights the obligations and partial failings of the Afghan government, whilst providing recommendations to the government, international donors and armed groups.
Child Soldiers Intl briefing June 2015.pdf -
Report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, June 2015
In his report, the UN Secretary General notes, amongst other points, that between February 15 and April 30, UNAMA documented 2,126 civilian casualties (669 killed and 1,457 injured), reflecting a sharp increase of 23 per cent over the same period in 2014. Child casualties increased two per cent compared with the previous reporting period. The report also notes that the Government outlined a proposal for a national plan for elimination of torture as part of its response to a UNAMA report, on the treatment of conflict-related detainees in Afghan custody. Finally, the report also looks at further developments in the formation of Afghanistan's National Unity Government, 24 ministers were confirmed to date, four are women.
SG Report to the GASC June2015.pdf -
International Crisis Group: The Future of the Afghan Local Police, June 2015
The Afghan Local Police (ALP) began as a small U.S. experiment but grew into a significant part of Afghanistan’s security apparatus. The ALP has perhaps 29,000 men deployed in 29 of 34 provinces. Whilst in some districts the ALP has enhanced security, in others it is considered a primary cause of security deterioration. International Crisis Group's report explores the reasons for this and poses recommendations for the Afghan government, US Dept. of State and donor countries.
IntCrisisGp-the-future-of-the-ALP.pdf -
Costs of War: War-related Death, Injury & Displacement in Afghanistan & Pakistan, May 2015
The Costs of War Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, scholarly initiative based at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. The project and its reports analyzes the implications of the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq in terms of human casualties, economic costs, and civil liberties.With war-related movement between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and cross-border military actions, the separate wars in the 2 countries are becoming one larger conflict. This report describes the two kinds of war-related death and injury: direct deaths due to violence, and deaths caused indirectly due to the effects of the destruction of infrastructure and displacement.
Costs of War - War Related Casualties Afghanistan & Pakistan 2001-2014.pdf -
Chatham House: The Impact of IEDs on the Humanitarian Space in Afghanistan, April 2015
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are an increasingly common feature of the conflict in Afghanistan and they pose a growing threat to humanitarian organizations operating there. This paper considers the features of IEDs that distinguish them from other threats facing humanitarians and how their use may indicate a more fundamental challenge to the humanitarian sector: the erosion of the principles of neutrality and impartiality owing to the increasing militarization and politicization of humanitarian aid. Using the specific example of their effects in Afghanistan, this paper assesses the risks IEDs pose and highlights the negative impacts on humanitarian operations that measures used to mitigate this risk can have.
CH - IED impact on humanitarian space Apr15.pdf -
Mercy Corps: Youth & Consequences - Unemployment, Injustice & Violence, April 2015
Mercy Corps' report tackles some of the most persistent assumptions driving youth programming in fragile states. Drawing on interviews and surveys with youth in Afghanistan, Colombia and Somalia, the report finds the principal drivers of political violence are rooted not in poverty, but in experiences of injustice: discrimination, corruption and abuse by security forces. In light of these findings, many familiar approaches — vocational training programmes, for instance, and civic engagement — are unlikely, in isolation, to have much effect on stability. A new approach is required, one that tackles the sources of instability, not just the symptoms.
MercyCorps_YouthConsequencesReport_2015.pdf -
BAAG: Monthly report, April 2015
BAAG's monthly 2-sided review of the key news from Afghanistan, which for April included progress in the appointment of Cabinet positions, a bloody start to the Taliban's spring offensive, a deadly landslide in Badakhshan and concerns over the continued targetting of minority groups.
Afghanistan in April.pdf -
UNAMA: 2014 Annual Report, Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, February 2015
UNAMA documented 10,548 civilian casualties in 2014, the highest number recorded in a single year since 2009. For the first time since 2009, more Afghan civilians were killed and injured in ground engagements than by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or any other tactic. These ground engagements increasingly used explosive weapons systems such as mortars, rockets and grenades, sometimes indiscriminately, in civilian-populated areas - leading to devastating consequences for civilians.
UNAMA Protection-of-Civilians-annual report 2014.pdf -
Report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, February 2015
The SG highlights, amongst others, the 25 cabinet nominees and 9 appointments, the formal security transition on 31st December, increased regional efforts to improve security cooperation and peace negotiations, a sharp increase in returnees from Pakistan and the UN's humanitarian winter assistance. He comments that in 2014, 57 aid workers were killed, 47 injured, 182 abducted and 11 were arrested or detained.
SG-report-March2015.pdf -
Mercy Corps: Does youth employment build stability?, January 2015
Mercy Corp's INVEST programme (Introducing New Vocational Education and Skills Training) in Helmand provided a valuable opportunity to explore the economic reasons that may lead to a propensity towards political violence and insurgency. Though not an original hypothesis of the programme, this quasi-experimental, mixed methodology impact evaluation contributes to research on the relationship between employment and stability.
MercyCorps_youth employment stability Jan15.pdf -
Report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, December 2014
The Secretary General reports on the formation of Afghanistan's National Unity Government. New president, Ashraf Ghani, and his CEO Abdullah Abdullah appointed various high level positions and promised a new Cabinet of ministers within 100 days. The period also saw much regional activity with the President visiting a number of neighbouring countries to discuss cooperation. Civilian casualties during the period included at least 50 spectators killed at a volley-ball match in Paktika province. Meanwhile the number of families fleeing into eastern provinces due to Pakistani military operations increased to over 32,000.
SG report to the GASC Dec 2014.pdf