In the last two months, the war has spread to unprecedented levels in most provinces. The fighting has forced thousands of families to flee their homes and seek refuge in relatively safe district and provincial capitals under difficult conditions.
The Ministry of Refugees and Returnees says that during the two months of the war, about 22,416 families were displaced from different provinces.
Abdul Basit Ansari, the ministry’s press adviser, told 8 Subh that most of the displaced were from Kunduz, Baghlan, Helmand, Ghazni, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces. Mr. Ansari added that the Ministry of Refugees and Returnees has helped 20,000 families with food, carpets and tents. He called on partner institutions to co-operate with the ministry so that they can cover more Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Contrary to the ministry’s statistics, 8 Subh’s findings from Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan, Badakhshan and Balkh provinces show that fighting in these provinces has displaced about 37,000 families.
The food and non-food packages provided by the Ministry of Refugees and Returnees to the displaced are not enough. A number of displaced people in Balkh province told the 8 Subh that they were in a dire situation.
They say they lost their assets following the fighting between the Taliban and security forces. Currently, out of fourteen districts of Balkh, Zare, Chahar Bolak, Dawlatabad, Balkh, Shulgara, Kushinda, Shoortapa, Chamtal and Kaldar districts of the province are under the control of the Taliban.
Ghulam Sakhi, a war refugee in Balkh, told 8 Subh: “We have no water, no food, or anything else. In this hot weather, we live under a tent. What to do, where to go from now on? We lost our homes; we lost our children. It is on both sides of the war, both the government and the Taliban. In the middle of this, the people e doomed.”
“We pray to God a lasting peace is established in our country so that the people can return to their districts and continue their lives,” continued Ghulam Sakhi, who hates war.
Eight Thousand Families Have Been Displaced in Baghlan
The Directorate of Refugees and Returnees of Baghlan Province has announced that about eight thousand families have been displaced in the past month due to the escalation of the conflict in the province.
Sharifullah Shafaq, Head of Refugee and Returnees Directorate in Baghlan province, said the families had been displaced from Nahrin, Baghlan-e-Markazi, Baraka, Dahana-e-Ghori and other insecure districts in the province.
According to him, out of 8,000 displaced families in the last month, one thousand families have been helped. He states that the survey and assistance process has been underway for a month now, and that the department’s teams are surveying the remaining 7,000 families. He added that in the near future, with the completion of the survey, food and non-food aid will be distributed to these families.
More than 7,000 families Have Been Displaced in Badakhshan
The Directorate of Refugees and Returnees in Badakhshan Province has said that more than 7,000 families have been forced to flee their homes due to recent violence and fighting in the province. Abdul Wahed Taibi, the head of this directorate, said thousands of families had fled their homes as a result of heavy fighting in the province.
According to Taibi, the displaced people from Kishm, Baharak, Jurm, Yaftal Payan, Khash, Arghanj khah, and Argo districts have taken refuge in Faizabad city, the capital of Badakhshan province.
He added that in the last few weeks alone, some 2,500 families have been displaced from different districts due to the escalation of fighting. He stated that more than 200 families have come to Badakhshan from Kunduz’s Bagh Shirkat. Only 139 displaced families from Kunduz have been assisted. Abdul Wahed Taibi says assistance is being provided to other families.
Families displaced from Kunduz’s Bagh Shirkat to Badakhshan say the Taliban displaced them because they were from Badakhshan. Meanwhile, Taibi expressed concern about the increasing number of displaced people as fighting intensified in Badakhshan.
12,000 Families Have Been Displaced in Kunduz
The Kunduz Directorate of Refugees and Returnees says that as a result of the war in the past month, 12,000 families have been forced to flee their homes.
Ghulam Sakhi Rasuli, Head of this Directorate, said that more than 12,000 families had been displaced as a result of heavy fighting between security forces and the Taliban in the province. According to Rasuli, the IDPs is from Imam Sahib, Aliabad, Khanabad, Chahar Dara and central areas of Kunduz.
Rasuli said that in a recent month, in coordination with aid agencies, out of a total of 12,000 displaced families, 6,500 families needed help, and the process of distributing aid to these families is currently underway.
Meanwhile, Rasuli stated that about 2,000 families have moved from Kunduz to Takhar, Baghlan and Kabul provinces.
On the other hand, according to Ghulam Sakhi Rasuli, the number of displaced people in the province is increasing and there are many challenges to address them, including road closures and the lack of food stalls.
Nine Thousand Families Have Been Displaced in Takhar
The Directorate of Refugees and Returnees in Takhar Province says that as a result of the recent fighting in Takhar Province, about 9,000 families have been forced to flee their homes.
Yasin Labeb, Director of Refugees and Returnees in Takhar province, said that about 9,000 families from 13 districts and the capital of Takhar province had taken refuge in Taloqan after the fall of the districts.
Labeb said the families were from Rustaq, Bangi, Chal, Khwaja Bahauddin, Baharak, Khwaja Ghar, Dargad, Dasht-e-Qala, Yangi-Qala and Farkhar districts, where the fighting is ongoing, as well as Cheshma Sher and Qul-e-Burz districts. They have been displaced in Taloqan, the capital of the province.
According to Labeb, about a thousand families from Kunduz have also taken refuge in the city of Taloqan, where about 30 families have been transferred to a private school and others are living in their closed houses.
Yassin Labeb said a larger location would be allocated for the migrants to meet the needs of the families who came from Kunduz.
Labeb stated that so far 800 families out of 9,000 displaced families have been distributed in cooperation with aid, food and non-food aid institutions. Labib, meanwhile, says there are not enough resources to help the displaced, and the Takhar Department of Refugees and Returnees faces many challenges in dealing with the displaced.
The situation in other war-torn provinces is no better than these five provinces. The situation will get worse if the government does not take serious action to repel the Taliban attacks.
