And the War Goes On

Two months ago, Tajwar, a wrinkled, chador-wrapped woman from the mountainous, impoverished Afghan province of Ghor, was widowed. Her husband, a cook, was killed when he stepped on a roadside bomb. That same week her brother, an Afghan Army recruit, was killed in a battle against one of Ghor’s many armed anti-government groups.

Tajwar told me recently that, while mourning the deaths of her husband and brother, a group of armed men came to her house. The men claimed that her husband had wasted a bomb meant for the Afghan army, and demanded compensation. Her brother had been fighting against them. Even her teenage nephew was a problem — his recent short haircut was evidence that he was not Muslim. As payment for these offenses, the men demanded Tajwar hand over food and all of her cows and sheep. In an instant, Tajwar’s entire stock of winter food, which she had prepared carefully for Ghor’s notoriously harsh winter, disappeared into the mountains with these men.

Defenseless and scared they would return, Tajwar packed up her four young children and made for the relative safety of nearby Herat Province, adding her family to Afghanistan’s growing population of internally displaced people (IDPs). Around 140,000 Afghans were forced to flee their homes due to conflict in 2014. Many of them, like Tajwar, seek refuge in one of the country’s larger cities, such as Kabul, Herat, or Kandahar, hoping to find safety, food, and employment.

On Dec. 28, NATO wrapped up its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan, and U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the “responsible conclusion” to America’s longest war. However, for the Afghan people, the conflict is far from over. In fact, at no point since 2001 has it been more dangerous to be an Afghan.

I met Tajwar in her small, simple tent, pitched with a dozen others alongside the road on the outskirts of Herat. Thousands of IDPs live along this road; many recent arrivals live in makeshift tents provided by international NGOs. Others, some who have been displaced for over a decade, have settled in simple mud-brick housing equipped with minor comforts, such as solar panels. Tajwar’s neighbors are all recent arrivals from Ghor, a province in central Afghanistan long beleaguered by anti-government violence, food insecurity, and drought.

Rule of law has been historically weak in Ghor, but the steady and rising exodus of families tell of a recent deterioration in security. Ahmad Fahim Qaim, Ghor’s police chief, told me on a phone interview that there were at least 2,500 Taliban fighters in his province, and at least 7,600 weapons in the hands of other anti-government gunmen. Citing security reasons, Qaim declined to say how many Afghan National Police were stationed in Ghor (believed in 2013 to number around 1,400) but confirmed his province was under-resourced to deal with the security situation (perhaps as proof that the situation in Ghor is untenable, Qaim was sacked on Wednesday). The last of the international forces — 200 Lithuanian soldiers — packed up in 2013.

Internal displacement driven by conflict is not a new phenomenon in Afghanistan. Conservative figures show there is close to 800,000 IDPs in Afghanistan, some of whom have been displaced for several years or more. But the gradual transition of responsibility for Afghanistan’s security from international to national forces — formally completed on Dec. 28,^, 2014, with a modest ceremony in Kabul — marked the bloodiest year on record for Afghan civilians caught up in the escalating violence, with at least 3,188 killed. So too, there have been increasing numbers of Afghan IDPs — families fleeing violence, harassment, and even forced recruitment by anti-government groups, including the Taliban, which is extending its reach across the country. Tajwar estimated that two years ago, there used to be at least 200 families in her extended village. Now less than 30 remain, she said.

In a sparse tent adjacent to Tajwar, Jan Mohammad, another IDP from Ghor, lives with his giggling eight-year-old daughter, Zairah, who often affectionately strokes her father’s long, salt-and-pepper beard. Jan Mohammad fled to Herat after a local anti-government group, incensed that his brother had joined the Afghan Army, came to his house demanding an illegal tax. An argument broke out, resulting in the men murdering Jan Mohammad’s wife in front of him. “I didn’t even have time to bury her,” Jan Mohammad said, remembering how he took Zairah in his arms and ran into the darkness.

To flee Ghor, Jan Mohammad flagged down a truck driver and promised payment for the ride — AFN 2,300 ($40) — once he arrived in the city. Without any money, he was forced to give the driver most of his NGO emergency kit, including his pressure cooker, gas bottle, and blankets. He is now dependent on the goodwill of the others and is too scared to go back home. “They will kill us,” he said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which I am a part of,  is one of several international organizations providing assistance to IDPs in Herat. But Faizullah, a short, wiry man who represents the small community of people uprooted from Ghor, told me that the assistance received is not enough. Emergency kits and small cash grants cover some basic necessities, but families are still barely scraping by. The men in the camp travel 15 kilometers into the city center to find daily laboring work but at best only get one or two days’ work per week, receiving AFN 150 — 250 ($2.60 – $4.30) per day. The cold weather had caused many in his camp to fall ill and although the hospitals are free, there is no money to pay for medicine, he said.

President Ashraf Ghani acknowledged the enormous issue of Afghanistan’s internally displaced, and pledged early on in his presidency to make it a focus. First Lady Rula Ghani also announced she will take on a central role. Afghanistan is the only country in South Asia that has a national IDP policy to address the needs of its growing displaced population, who regularly face discrimination and disadvantages in accessing basic rights. The policy was formally adopted in early 2014, but implementation has been slow due to limited resources, a focus on the protracted electoral crisis, and the military transition. Meanwhile, thousands of newly displaced families are arriving in Afghanistan’s major cities each month, with little capacity to provide for even their basic needs.

At the transition ceremony in Kabul on Dec. 28, ISAF Commander General John Campbell declared that “our Afghan partners can and will take the fight from here.” But in Ghor, Afghan police control little more than a few kilometers beyond city borders, and the vast mountains of the province provide perfect hiding areas for insurgents. “We know that [the international forces] are leaving,” Faizullah said. “If they leave Afghanistan, the armed groups and the Taliban will grow.”

For Tajwar, the battle between anti-government groups, the Taliban, and the Afghan armed forces that widowed her and ultimately forced her to leave her home is an enigma. “I am a woman. I am a mother”, she said. “I make bread, I make tea. I take care of my children. These men come to my house and they talk about jihad. What is jihad to me?”

WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images