On 29th May 2013, three gunmen and a suicide bomber attacked the ICRC office at Jalalabad in Afghanistan killing an Afghan guard on duty. Two days after the attack on the world’s most respected humanitarian organisation’s office, Taliban denied any role in the attack. Taliban spokesperson said that the group never targets those who truly serve the people (Reuters, The Express Tribune, May 31, 2013). This attack sent shockwaves across the humanitarian community, not because that ICRC was never attacked anywhere in the world but because the attack was the first of its kind on ICRC since it started working in Afghanistan in 1987. The attack on the ICRC office in Jalalabad was not a stand alone incident in the region, many humanitarian organisation personals were attacked and their assets were destroyed since the US led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The attacks have to be seen in the larger context of issues around neutrality and blurring of lines between military and humanitarian actors on ground. Normally the groups like Taliban happily own the responsibility of any attack which has been carried out by it as a shot in the arm. The denial in the ICRC office attack points towards two things- either they didn’t attack or they feared that owning up of responsibility of the attacks on world’s most respected humanitarian organisation will do more harm than good. The crucial point of analysis here is not whether Taliban was responsible or not; but the larger humanitarian scenario of interaction between military and international/local non governmental organisation (I/NGOs) in Afghanistan. This point of analysis is not only relevant for Afghanistan but for all the humanitarian operations around the world. Afghanistan’s situation is of a complex emergency one. World Health Organisation (WHO) defines complex emergencies as situation of disputed livelihood and threats to life produced by warfare, civil strife disturbances and large scale movement of people, in which any emergency response has to be conducted in a difficult political and security environment (WHO, 2002). These situations are often worsened by natural disasters. Polman (2010) argues that complex emergencies are those situations where actually no one is sure what is going on. Not focusing much on the semantics of the term complex emergency, the research aims at understanding the complex issues that are embedded in these situations. Complex emergencies, like in Afghanistan, Haiti (2010 Earthquake) always witness two dialectical components- military and humanitarian organisation, coming together at one platform.
Her memoir starts off in Darfur in 2005, where in her late 20’s, she hits rock bottom while managing a refugee camp for 24,000 civilians. It backtracks to her internship in Rwanda, while moving forward to her challenges in Darfur, in addition to her experiences in post- tsunami Indonesia, and post-quake in Haiti. By sharing her story, Alexander gives readers an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes into the devastations that are censored on media outlets. She stresses that these are often the problems that individuals claim they are educated on, but rarely make it their priority to solve. However, that is not the case for Jessica Alexander as she has over 12 years of experience working with different NGO’s and UN operations. As a result, Alexander earns the credibility to critique the multi-billion-dollar humanitarian aid industry. From her painful yet rewarding work experience, Alexander gives an honest and empathetic view of humanitarian aid as an establishment and a
In times of war, tragedy, and suffering, there has always been a call for humanitarian aid. As the number of humanitarian emergencies increase, David Rieff recognizes and details the ways in which humanitarianism has transformed in his book, A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis, and critically reflects on the impact of humanitarianism and humanitarian efforts. In this essay, I plan to summarize Rieff's argument regarding humanitarianism and its impact. Then, I will engage with Rieff’s main ideas by responding to the core elements of his argument. Finally, I will acknowledge the themes and ideas introduced in the book that deserve further exploration.
...h Muslim “clerics” (Ottaway) unaware of modern diplomacy and skeptical of the Western world, and they were unsuccessful in taking the advantage of cracks in the Taliban governance. A former CIA station chief said that the CIA did not hear anything the Taliban Representative said. The US Government wanted Osama Bin-Laden from them and they were asking for the help to give him up; two different tone of language- meaning it was hard for both representatives to understand each other’s wants and needs. The conferences took place in many different places like Kandahar, Islamabad, Tashkent, Bonn, Washington and New York. There were satellite conversations that took about 40-minute between State Department officials and the Taliban's top leader, Mohammad Omar. There was also a surprise visit to Washington, made by a Taliban representative giving a carpet to President Bush.
The history of humanitarian aid has been muddied by cases of NGOs and UN groups enabling violent groups by providing too much support and aid. During the Rwandan Genocide, two ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, clashed and thousands of Tutsis were killed at the hands of the Hutus. Many people fled the country seeking refuge, and agencies set up refugee camps in some of the neighboring countries, beginning one of the largest humanitarian aid disasters that the world has ever seen (Lassiter 54). Many ex-combatants found their ways into these cams, receiving food and aid supplies. Some of these camps were even used as military bases where the ex-combatants could rally and then leave to kill their enemies. Thinking that they could curb reliance on aid workers and agencies, the aid was put under the control of the Rwandan soldiers. Because of the prejudice of the soldiers, only people of certain races and ethnicities received aid. The availability of aid to the military and militants enabled them to accomplish military objectives without fear of retribution. While the aid problems in the aftermat...
In 1996, the Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. A report by the U.S. Department of State describes that this takeover was done in a very brutal and violent manner and the Taliban left the proof of their victory hanging in the streets of the city for over a week (par. 2). In Jan Goodwin’s article, Buried Alive, it is written that the men who are in charge of enforcing the laws of the Taliban are called the Department of the Propagation of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice; these men also punish citizens who disobey the laws. The majority of this group is made up of fifteen year old boys carrying machine guns, but also consists of men arme...
On September 11, 2001, the most disastrous terrorist attack in U.S. history left a countless number of innocent Americans both dead and missing. The Taliban’s assault on the Pentagon and annihilation of New York’s World Trade Center caused the entire country to wonder what was going on in the rest of the world to cause so much animosity toward our great nation. Little did many American citizens know that this shocking catastrophe was the result of years of unrest and chaos in the Middle East. The tragic events of September 11th occurred as a result of the recent, political history of Afghanistan, the development of the radical Islamic group, the Taliban, and the monetary and military support that the Taliban has received.
The model of American governance is based on multiple levels authority that begin with local government, extend to state government, and finally expand to the federal government. Each level of government has different jurisdictions, responsibility, and spheres of influence. While they seemingly operate on different levels the servicers they are responsible for can often overlap creating an interdependence between them (Liesbet, 2003). This interdependence between the various tiers of government is especially critical when it comes to emergency management. A critical incident, such as natural disaster or terrorist event, requires a coordinated effort by local, state, and federal agencies to be effective. Additionally, governmental agencies rely on and need to work well with community, non-profit, and private entities to prepare and response to critical incidents (Sylves, R. (2015).
Without any outside involvement, the Taliban will continue to dominate and spread fear. Canada’s involvement engages the people to take a stand against an oppressed regime. Without any dialogue, the status quo will remain unless there is external involvement from the international community.
The books Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal, and Political Dilemmas, by Robert Keohane and J.L. Holzgrefe, and Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society by Nicholas J. Wheeler contain value information and analyses on the subject of unauthorized interventions. Humanitarian Intervention is a set of essays chosen by Keohane and H...
Kent, Randolph and Mackinlay, John. May/June 1997. “International Responses to Complex Emergencies: Why a new approach is needed?” NATO Review, 27-29.
Afghanistan since its beginning has been a place of conflict, despair, and at times lost hope. It has been taken advantage of and lost its sense of identity, which has had a direct effect on its people, and there own sense of what justice truly is.
The role of the ICRC since its inception has gradually shifted from just being a body tasked with providing relief in times of humanitarian strife to one of a body of immense si...
Humanitarian Intervention Hypothesis: That despite the incidents where humanitarian interventions have proved seemingly unsuccessful, they are, nonetheless, a vital tool in alleviating the human suffering that so plagues contemporary society. The post-Cold war world is one that has been riddled with conflict, suffering and war. In the face of such times, the issue of humanitarian intervention and about who, when and how it should be employed, has become hotly debated. While some critics declare this kind of intervention to be a violation of national sovereignty, others believe that relief efforts aimed at ending human suffering are perfectly justifiable. 7.
Recently Afghanistan has grown significantly in terms of its ability to care for itself. A national army and a developing police force are becomi...
In the past ten years the Afghan Government has been dealing with a number of issues that have caused problems for the country, problems such as illegal drug trade, terrorism and violence. But nowadays they are fighting a problem that has long existed between people, and quite recently has taken a whole new aspect to it. Ethnic conflict is the destructive factor that has caused problems between people for generations, often leading to fights, outbreak of violence and grudge between different ethnicities.