Category Archives: Editorial

Afghanistan: A future stolen

Featured

Posted on by

Following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the West must not abandon its people – especially its women and girls – to an awful fate – writes Glyn Strong

Picking up the pieces

When did Afghanistan become the elephant in the room? For me it was the day that a letter in my village magazine berated our local MP for putting the needs of refugees higher up the agenda than ‘the pothole situation’ on her doorstep. Coming just weeks after the launch of Operation Warm Welcome it struck a somewhat discordant note.

Image © Christian Jepsen/Norwegian Refugee Council

The evacuation in August had been hailed as an overwhelming success. True, there were disturbing scenes of violence at Kabul Airport – and who could forget the sight of the man so desperate to leave his country that he clung to the wheel arch of a departing C17 – but the UK did evacuate 15,000 people; Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed Operation Pitting as “one of the great achievements of our UK Armed Services and their civilian counterparts in the post-war era” and medals were awarded accordingly.

But what next? While praising the operation to get so many key people out of Afghanistan presented politicians with the opportunity to snatch a small victory from the jaws of a large defeat, its halo effect didn’t last long and the international community is now faced with the reality of either punishing the de facto government – or punishing the Afghan people.

It’s an impasse that no-one wants to tackle. The range of stakeholders in Afghanistan’s future is diverse and opinion about the Taliban, polarised. Some believe that, with a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions looming, it’s time to heed General David Richards’ advice as he urges magnanimity in defeat.

“This undeniably is a defeat” he insists. “What happens next is hugely important to the men and women of the armed forces who fought there.” (During the UK’s 20 years of deployment in Afghanistan 457 armed forces personnel died and more than 240 lost limbs).

“The UK went into Afghanistan for strategic reasons, largely to ensure that it remained a friendly state and didn’t become part of the legacy of Osama bin Laden. The thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen I commanded there as COMISAF and as Chief of the Defence Staff didn’t deserve to see this result. It’s another important reason why we must do our best to see that Afghanistan doesn’t fall back into the state that it was in the late 1990s.


“We can’t afford to punish and alienate the Afghan people – for strategic and moral reasons. This is not what we went to war to achieve; what is happening is the result of a political decision and it’s totally unacceptable. We must have a strategy that seeks to influence and not just punish the new government. It is morally wrong to condemn innocent people. By engaging with the moderate Taliban we can marginalise the less acceptable members and engage more meaningfully with those we can work with.”

Afghan assets were frozen when the Taliban took over, but without access to funds the country will implode. Hope, too, will die, making a mockery of the commitment to ‘enduring freedom’ that drove the US-led war on terror. The situation is now parlous – for the women, girls and young people who fear that their futures have been snatched away; for the families selling their children in order to buy food and firewood; and for those deemed to be ‘tainted’ by association with the previous regime and threatened with violence.

Further afield Afghan citizens wait in the limbo of displaced persons camps and, here in the UK, restive families kick their heels in hotels, dreaming of a visionary home that exists somewhere between memory and imagination.

Minister for Afghan Resettlement, Victoria Atkins, said, “The UK has made one of the largest commitments of any country to resettle at-risk Afghan citizens. More than 4,000 people have moved, or are being moved, into their new homes since the first ARAP flights in June. Through our huge cross- Government effort and in partnership with local authorities and the private rented sector, we will continue to secure permanent homes for Afghan families so they can settle and rebuild their lives.”

Compromise

Back in Afghanistan reports are contradictory. In some areas girls’ schools have been closed, but others say the Taliban are supportive of girls’ education. They are not a homogenous group however, which perhaps reinforces General Richards’ view that overtures to moderates will marginalise extremists. If a Taliban government is to survive, it must be pragmatic – and that means compromise. However, some believe that no spoon is long enough to sup with these particular ‘devils’.

Rahela Siddiqi, prominent activist and founder of the educational scholarship trust that bears her name, is one of them:

“Regarding any talks with the Taliban, all I can say is that there has been a great deal of violence and if the international community engages with the Taliban it must go in hard because innocent people have been killed. We (the Rahela Trust) are presently supporting 20 women through university in Afghanistan – in Helmand, in Kabul and in Kandahar – and 15 students who have graduated. Four of them have been threatened; one, who is divorced with a child, is in a desperate situation. The Taliban allow this only because they are at private universities.”

Rahela highlights an incident related to her by the cousin of a family in Kunduz. “The Taliban targeted them in early February. After watching them at lunch they joined the family to eat desert, then took out the 27-year old son to kill him. When his father pursued them, they shot him dead. Both bodies were later discovered, brutally disfigured.

“I couldn’t sit at the table with people who are murderers,” she insists. “Afghanistan is now hostage to the Taliban. They should know that if they want to lead a nation, they must show that they are with and for its people.”

So what’s the answer? Any handover of power is complicated, but the fall of the Afghan Government was unmoderated and unforeseen. The Taliban had no experience of statecraft or government. Blame, rumour and fear conspired to fuel a tsunami of panic that unnerved everyone.

New realities

Now, as the dust begins to settle, there are new realities to contend with – record drought, soaring food prices, internal displacement, severe economic downturn, extreme cold weather and the collapse of public services. Many NGOs have departed and sanctions against the Taliban have exacerbated the hardships that are impacting on the most vulnerable.

‘M’ who lives in Kandahar with his extended family, is one of them. He worked in a government office; when the regime collapsed, he lost his job and was targeted for ‘punishment’ by the Taliban. He stares death in the face – only the guise in which it arrives is uncertain. Will it be by violence, cold or starvation? Through friends he sends desperate WhatsApp texts asking for money, but the small amounts that get through don’t last long. He depends on the kindness of strangers, but they can’t give indefinitely.

Bibi Sakina, 38, lives in Charqala-e Waziraabad IDP camp in Kabul with her six children. The family is struggling to survive. Her oldest son collects garbage for recycling but can only earn 500-600 Afghani (less than £5) per month.

“Sometimes we don’t have any food to cook for a couple of days so we have to survive on tea and bread. The price of foodstuffs and fuel for heating and cooking has doubled since the takeover” Bibi Sakina explains through the Norwegian Refugee Council. “I have followed the situation about the sanctions and the freezing of Afghan funds on the radio. I ask the world to help us and encourage the international community to release the money that belongs to Afghanistan so that we can have jobs and opportunities again.”

Starvation

Of course, ‘M’ and Bibi Sakina are not special. According to the UN World Food Programme over half of Afghanistan’s population are facing starvation. Nine hundred miles away, another Afghan man agonises about his future. ‘A’ is a doctor – an oncologist, with sought-after qualifications in public health and an inspirational track record in helping Afghanistan’s breast cancer victims. He speaks fluent English and has family in the UK and US. He was caught up in the violence at Kabul Airport and didn’t get out. Now in a holding camp in Abu Dhabi, he lives like a prisoner, often not leaving his small room for weeks. He has an ARAP (Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy) case number but feels he has been forgotten.

Many of the journalists, like myself, who visited Afghanistan between 2001/21 did so to meet its women – the faceless burqa-clad icons of a society in which male dominance was almost absolute. We reported on forced marriages, ‘honour’ killings (often of rape victims), acts of self-immolation and maternal health problems on an industrial scale.

A shortage of midwives, ignorance about breast cancer and general lack of access to timely medical treatment meant that hundreds were dying needlessly. But things were changing and it soon became evident that Afghan women were neither passive nor complicit in their subjugation; they were strong, capable and desperate to effect change.

Reversal of progress

Around 46% of Afghanistan’s population is under 15 years of age which means that many Afghans were born and grew up alongside a Western military presence, with its talk of Millennium Development Goals for Women, capacity building, education and empowerment. Whatever alleged hidden agenda – oil, opium, anti-terrorist activity – underlay Western investment, a belief grew that things were possible. Women joined the ANP and ANA (Afghan National Police & Army), they flew helicopters, became journalists, midwives, governors and ministers. It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress.

Now the country is at risk of haemorrhaging talent – its female robotics, cricket and football teams have already left because they see no future for themselves there; women have been sent home from work and, if reports are to be believed, terrorised, arrested and killed for protesting.

Baroness Fiona Hodgson chairs the UK-based Afghan Women’s Support Forum, an eclectic networking group that has been uniting Afghan women (and men) for over a decade, bringing together activists, students, journalists, doctors, diplomats and various members of the Afghan diaspora:

“It’s heart-breaking to see the achievements of so many inspirational women jeopardised. Over the years I have seen them grow in strength and confidence, celebrate educational achievements and make real progress towards peace building. It is unthinkable that these gains should be lost and yet everyone feels so helpless. Until recently these brave, dynamic women had a profile and a voice; they were shaping the future of their country. Now they’re in limbo asking, ‘Who’s listening and what’s happening next?”

General Richards is unequivocal about the West’s legacy: “History says the Afghans won’t judge us kindly. There was no military requirement or popular political reason for us to withdraw. The decision was taken by President Biden; the US and UK military advised against it but European leaders must not hide behind him. They could have been more robust. But it’s not too late – if we don’t compound our errors by allowing the humanitarian disaster to continue; if we engage and persuade (the Taliban), through non-military means, to respect human rights, women’s rights, perhaps we can rebuild our stock and influence in the region.”

Originally published for the FCDO in InsideOut • Issue 61 • Spring 2022

Image © Christian Jepsen/Norwegian Refugee Council

War: the real ‘cancer’ of mankind

Posted on by

2017 – Reproduced by kind permission of The Courant.

June 5th marks the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. On June 14th Palestinians in Gaza will have been in lockdown for 10 years, a period punctuated by three punishing military offensives. It’s 16 years since British troops were deployed to Afghanistan, and three since they officially left a still dangerous and unstable country.

Palestinians and Afghans have been so frequently linked to violence, conflict and aid appeals that they have lost their identity as people with ‘normal’ needs; needs like education, freedom of movement, food, shelter and healthcare.

Pain can shrink a universe. To someone struggling with cancer the fact that their nation is in political turmoil or their leader about to be toppled is almost an irrelevance.

But only ‘almost’, because war and the tectonic plates of political repositioning have a direct effect on every aspect of family life – and at the heart of every family is a woman.

‘Brexit’ may have prompted families in the UK to speculate about how leaving the EU might impact on health spending, but no Western woman expects to face a future in which breast cancer treatment is either unavailable or punishingly hard to access.

Towards the end of 2016 I joined a low profile, self-funded ‘tour’ for individuals who wanted to see for themselves how citizens of the Jewish State and their neighbours in the Palestinian Territories co-existed. During that visit news reached the party that Donald J Trump had won the American election and iconic singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen had died. Cohen’s legacy was a poignant valedictory album prophetically called ‘You want it darker’. For those living in the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’ that darkness had been gathering for a long time. For some it began 70 years ago and on May 15th the Nakba was commemorated – i.e. the ‘catastrophe’ that resulted in more than 750,000 Palestinians being dispossessed when the State of Israel was formed.

Erez Crossing from Palestine to Israel

Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall to keep Mexicans out of the USA provoked shockwaves of horror and international condemnation. Yet Israel has been building walls for years, not to staunch a flow of economic migrants, but to keep Palestinians out of their own country. Behind the walls are roads that Palestinians can’t use and settlements that they can’t live in.

Nearly 4,000km east of Jerusalem, the residents of Kabul also face barriers. Maybe not the kind that physically criss-cross the West Bank or restrict access in and out of Gaza, but they are equally impenetrable.

American journalist Sidney J Harris described war as ‘the cancer of mankind’ – a malignant and destructive force that changes the conventions of life. Nowhere is that more evident than in these two countries.

Palestine and Afghanistan are not unique; visit any failed state, war or post-conflict zone and you will find disruption. Good infrastructure, freedom of movement, communication networks and a degree of wealth are pre-requisites of any ‘healthy’ society and the first to suffer in times of war.

The Erez crossing from Gaza to Israel is a bleak, soulless place. Intimidating to all travellers it represents a singular obstacle to those seeking medical treatment. It is accessible only to Israeli-issued permit holders, primarily medical and other humanitarian cases, aid workers and merchants. Many of those who pass through the long corridors of concrete and wire that deliver them to the scrutiny of security checkpoints need vital treatment for cancer. According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Access Report for March 2017, 45% of patients seeking to leave Gaza for healthcare had their appeals for permits denied or delayed.In 2016, the average rate of permits granted was just 64%.

Erez Crossing from Israel to Gaza

At the Qulandia crossing, between the West Bank and Israel, women seeking radiotherapy also have to wait – often standing in the heat and dust for hours feeling sick, frightened and anxious. Currently this critical treatment is only available to them at Jerusalem’s Augusta Victoria Hospital.

Mainstream news outlets focus on the kinetic aspects of Israel’s relationship with its Palestinian neighbours. The morality of bombs, air strikes, blockades and the inevitable ‘collateral damage’ is a subject that exercises Middle East pundits with Pavlovian regularity. The 2016 Haifa blaze was global news, but deaths due to more prosaic causes are not so well profiled.

Oslo Accords notwithstanding, neighbouring Israeli and Palestinian communities live in parallel universes. Divided physically by intimidating concrete walls and forced to use different roads, their daily experiences of life couldn’t be more different. Those living in Gaza have faced virtual lockdown since 2007 when Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the strip; many inhabitants regard it as an open prison. Their counterparts in the West Bank have more mobility, but their movements are curtailed by checkpoints, random ID inspections and much-disputed seizures of land, property and water sources. There is no airport in Palestine (the West Bank, or Gaza).

As for the ‘mutual dignity’ promised by the 1993 Oslo agreement, it is hard to imagine anything less dignified than the sight of human beings queuing like cattle at checkpoints manned by unsmiling young guards whose ‘security’ role frequently causes sick women to miss hospital appointments or go home in despair.

Often separated from their West Bank neighbours by just a few kilometres Israeli women are almost twice as likely to survive breast cancer as their Palestinian counterparts.

“Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP), one of the charities contributing to the support of a not-for-profit Cancer Centre in Ramallah and a West Bank university, has tried to remedy this. The charity supports the Dunya Centre (to the tune of £88,000 per annum) and has invested in Bethlehem University so that it can offer a Higher Diploma course for nurses in Oncology and Palliative Care. A spokesman said, “Our initial £121,000 covers the first two cohorts (1.5 academic years), with another £152,000 pledged to cover a further three cohorts subject to a positive evaluation.”

 The Dunya Centre

The Dunya Centre is a beacon of hope in this depressing scenario. Founded in 2011 it is the only place in the West Bank that offers Palestinian women (and men) the comprehensive early diagnostic technology for breast cancer that can save invasive surgery and, in many cases, lives.

After qualifying as a doctor in Moscow its Director, Dr. Nufuz Maslamani, returned to Palestine to practice. She too has to negotiate the Qulandia crossing daily to get to work, but is upbeat about what the clinic is achieving. “Every woman who comes here is given a breast examination. We teach her how to do self-examination. If she does this each month she can detect 70% of the changes that indicate breast cancer. We work to international protocols, if a woman is more than 40 we start with a mammogram and then after that, ultrasound but if the woman is less than 40 we start with ultrasound and a physical exam.”

The Dunya Centre offers clinical examination, mammography, breast ultrasound and PAP/cervical smear tests. It has a cytology lab and is able to conduct a variety of investigations. “Six of our patients have been men,” says Dr. Maslamani.

Dr Nufuz Maslamani and members of her team at Ramallah’s Dunya Cancer Clinic

While we speak a member of staff brings in some hair ‘donated’ by a supporter. It will be used to make one of the wigs that the centre makes available to women who have lost their hair as a result of treatment. The clinic also offers psychological support for cancer patients and their families and uses its ‘Survivors Group’ as a force multiplier to reach members of the community fearful or mistrustful of its services.

One Israeli hospital employee has a unique overview but is understandably unwilling to be named. “Certain kinds of treatment are just not available in the West Bank; they don’t have a child dialysis facility for example and they (children) have to travel many kilometres to get their treatment three times a week.

 “In Gaza however, things are terrible. If they need a blood transfusion for example, it can be done, but certain blood types need to be processed to get rid of antibodies. Well, that facility does not exist in Gaza. You can do the transfusion but you are probably killing the patient.”

Afghanistan’s cancer sufferers are not separated from treatment by such visible barriers but by lack of money, and accessible facilities. Like their Palestinian counterparts their situation is a legacy of conflict.

 Afghan breast cancer surgeon Dr. Zarghuna Taraki, whose UK patients at University College Hospital London have access to excellent treatment, said, “Cancer is a dark area in Afghanistan – not only breast cancer but all cancer – there is certainly no comprehensive awareness campaign. I was talking to some ladies back home and they asked me questions such as ‘Is it possible that a breast can develop a disease?’

“Most women in Afghanistan look to other women, their friends and families, for information. In the villages especially I don’t think they have any knowledge about the meaning of breast lumps or breast cancer – so they die without ever knowing the reason. This is very sad but it also makes it harder to learn how widespread breast cancer is when causes of death are unknown.”

The WHO estimates that nearly 20,000 cases of cancers are diagnosed in Afghanistan each year. Breast cancer is the most common, accounting for approximately 15% of all cases. It is the leading cause of death in women.

Of course, Palestinians and Afghans are not the only people denied the healthcare that we in the UK take for granted – every country where ‘the cancer of mankind’ has left its mark can point to families destroyed by un-necessary deaths.

But it’s not all bad news. Just as the Dunya Clinic brings hope to Palestinian women, so too does the embryonic Cancer Department in Kabul.

 In November 2014 when the then MP Dr. Shinkai Karokhail, now Afghan Ambassador to Ottawa, returned home after spending almost a year overseas being treated for breast cancer that was misdiagnosed in Afghanistan, she and HE The First Lady, Mrs. Rula Ghani, began advocating for improvement and better cancer prevention and control in their country. They brought together the nation’s cancer professionals under one umbrella – the Afghanistan Cancer Foundation (ACF).

In addition to cancer awareness campaigns, ACF convinced the Ministry of Public Health and the only medical oncologist in the country to set up an outpatient department (OPD) followed by the opening of a 23-bed Inpatient Department (IPD) in Jumhuriat Hospital. Between August 2015 and April 2017, more than 9,500 patients were provided with cancer diagnosis and treatment services there.

Still finding its feet the Cancer Department, affiliated with the National Cancer Control Program, is desperate for support as its coordinator at the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Maihan Abdullah  explains: “Support and advocacy for cancer prevention and control here is badly needed. With each passing day the number of patients visiting the Cancer Department is increasing. Patients coming from rural areas have to wait for days to be admitted. The most urgent need is infrastructure/buildings that could accommodate the increasing demand for cancer care services. The second most important need is for the establishment of a pathology unit for which we need human and financial resources. The third most important need is for radiotherapy.”

He knows that political and financial support is crucial, but equally vital is expertise. “We need to recruit non-Afghan experts but many are reluctant to come to Afghanistan without the support of their governments.”

See also: http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/afghanistans-first-lady-backs-battle-against-silent-killer/article39912.html