Canadian Consortium on Human Security

Norine MacDonald*

If we examine the current situation in southern Afghanistan through the lens of human security and evaluate the impact of the counter-insurgency campaigns on the local population, it is clear that the international community is not doing enough to discharge its duties to protect Afghan civilians. In particular, Kandahar Province, where Canada has taken responsibility for the Provincial Reconstruction Team, has seen tens of thousands of Afghans displaced by fighting, bombings, and poppy crop eradication without any provision being made for food, shelter or medical aid. The Taliban are now in control of significant parts of the region, benefiting from the growing discontent of the local population with the international community who are perceived by the local population as failing to deliver on promises made.

Our field research in southern Afghanistan reveals that after five years of international presence in Afghanistan most of Kandahar's 800,000 people are still living in dire poverty and 70 percent do not have a secure source of food. There are a growing number of informal refugee camps in the region, created by crop eradication, bombing, and drought. Development and food aid in southern Afghanistan are so minimal and dysfunctional, as to be effectively nonexistent. Moreover, none of the refugee camps are being provided with food aid, and none have sufficient water, medical care, or shelter. Children and the elderly are starving.

Human security as defined by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) refers both to safety from chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression, and to protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life. In southern Afghanistan, by applying both elements of this definition we can clearly state that the local population is not experiencing even the most minimal levels of human security.

First, constant bombing campaigns seriously disrupt the patterns of daily life. From June to December 2006, the US instigated a bombing campaign in southern Afghanistan, during which more than 2,600 air operations were carried out,[i] resulting in the destruction of entire villages and reportedly killing thousands of innocent civilians. With no functioning aid system in the region, no provisions were made for the displaced villagers and civilian casualties, and no compensation has been provided for the reconstruction of the many homes and villages destroyed. The international community bombed the homes and lives of the very people we had come to protect and prompted the mass displacement of civilians from affected areas to existing and newly created camps. Additionally, there was no debate at the international level on the initiation of the bombing campaigns or the effects this would have on the local population.

Second, lack of food has resulted in hunger and starvation in southern Afghanistan. In March 2006 the limited food aid going into the makeshift refugee camps in southern Afghanistan was stopped, apparently as a result of a policy decision aimed at forcing camp inhabitants to return to their homes. However, it was seen early on that not only did people not “return home” – the people in the camps have no “home” to return to – most of the camps actually grew in size. The decision to cut aid to the camps was followed by an aggressive US-led poppy eradication campaign that left the poorest farmers unable to feed their families, and forced many of them to leave their villages in search of work. The US is currently advocating for the chemical spraying of poppy crops with herbicide to be introduced this spring, which in addition to its negative environmental effects will further increase discontent among the local population, invigorate support for the insurgency, and fuel anger against the international community.

Lastly, there is a serious lack of medical care and medicines in the south of Afghanistan. Our initial visits to hospitals in both Lashkar Gah and Helmand revealed that the hospitals are without sufficient food, medicines, blood or medical equipment. In the five years since the international community arrived in southern Afghanistan there has been no aid of any substance to these hospitals.

Constant bombings, lack of food, shelter and medical care have seriously undermined Canada’s chances of winning the hearts and minds of the local population. In addition to the human security implications of this situation, it creates a serious obstacle for Canadian military personnel on the ground, who can only succeed in their stabilization and counter-insurgency mission if they manage to win the support of the locals. At the moment, however, the level of human suffering in the region has in fact increased as a direct consequence of the military campaigns conducted by our Canadian soldiers and their colleagues in addition to the political neglect of the civilian population.

The political decisions to bomb Afghan villages, to withhold food and development aid, and to eradicate Afghans’ livelihoods, have sparked a negative chain reaction whereby the local populations of Afghanistan are being driven straight into the arms of the resurgent Taliban. The de facto absence of the aid and development communities in the south creates a negative environment. It is within this negative climate that Canadian troops are forced to fight. As a result these failures of the development and aid communities contribute to the number of military casualties Canada is experiencing.

Canada must not leave the war, but while engaged in military campaigns in Afghanistan, it is important to assure the people of Kandahar of sufficient food, shelter and medical assistance. It is not a war that will be won by military means alone. Canada needs to provide a positive environment for the Canadian military to fight in and successfully carry out its peacebuilding and conflict-prevention duties in southern Afghanistan under the ISAF mandate.

This positive environment can only be created if the political will can be found to do things differently in southern Afghanistan and in Kandahar in particular. At the moment, however, the human security agenda in Kandahar province is being wholly neglected by the Canadian government. Canada must move quickly to assist the Afghan people with food, shelter, and medical assistance before the situation further deteriorates. The vicious circle of lack of attention to the human security agenda which in turn leads to an increase in support for the Taliban, and more Canadian and civilian deaths must be brought to an end.

[i] For further discussion on this topic, see: Senlis Afghanistan, ‘Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan: Zroona Aw Zehnoona’, December 2006, [online] Available at: www.senliscouncil.net