NGOs in Afghanistan: "The Taliban have asked us to resume our humanitarian work"

Enlarge image

Thomas ten Boer is the country director of Welthungerhilfe in Afghanistan

Photo: Stefanie Glinski / Welthungerhilfe

SPIEGEL:

Mr. ten Boer, as country director you coordinate the work of German World Hunger Aid in Afghanistan.

You have shoveled 15 minutes free for us - what are you mainly working on at the moment?

Thomas ten Boer:

My main task these days is to support our local employees in Afghanistan - often also emotionally.

I am the main point of contact for all questions relating to any evacuations that the federal government has announced for local staff.

And a lot of other Afghans also get in touch with me asking for help to get out of the country.

SPIEGEL:

How many of your 180 or so employees are currently still in Afghanistan?

ten Boer:

Our entire local team.

That is 173 local employees.

As far as I know, none of them has been contacted by the federal government and informed whether and when they will be flown out.

Unfortunately, there is nothing more I can do for you than keep in touch.

At the moment, many want to get out, but not everyone can imagine leaving their parents or their homeland.

I myself happened to be on home leave in the Netherlands when the situation escalated, but as soon as civil air traffic starts reliably again, I want to go back to Kabul.

And I am already busy looking at what options there are to resume our work.

SPIEGEL:

You have temporarily closed all offices for security reasons. Can you go about your work at all at the moment?

ten Boer:

Yes, we're starting again.

Two of our branch offices in the north in Jawzjan and Samangan are open, on Tuesday we also reopened the central office in Kabul.

Next week we want to reopen the last still closed office in Nangarhar.

By the way: All organizations, including the others, are still represented in the country with their local employees.

We want and have to help people.

What we now need from the new government is clarity: What do they want and what do they expect from us?

SPIEGEL:

Are you in contact with the Taliban so that you can move freely around the country?

ten Boer: In

talks with village elders, the Taliban asked us and eleven other organizations to resume our humanitarian work across the country.

That is not the problem.

What worries me is whether we have enough gasoline to distribute our relief supplies.

SPIEGEL

: The airport is virtually airtight or only open for evacuation flights - how do you currently get aid deliveries into the country?

ten Boer:

We can bring goods into the country by land, goods traffic from Pakistan or Tajikistan is still possible.

SPIEGEL:

What is the most difficult thing about your work at the moment?

ten Boer:

That the banks are closed.

If we want to distribute large quantities of food or other relief supplies, we cannot pay the suppliers.

Even if we were to transfer the money from Germany, the person on site would not be able to see that it has arrived on their account, let alone withdraw the money.

SPIEGEL:

What is the humanitarian situation like on the ground?

ten Boer:

More than 13 million of the roughly 32 million people in the country are in acute food insecurity, so they do not reliably have enough to eat; In the Global Hunger Index, Afghanistan ranks 99th out of 107 countries. So the situation was already bad beforehand. For months internally displaced people have been living in informal camps around the capital in disastrous conditions, between garbage dumps and without medical care, stable accommodation and schooling for the children. Now the situation is getting worse. For example, government employees have not received a salary since June or July at the latest. None of them will receive any money in August. In addition, the prices have risen extremely. Especially in the north, many people simply can no longer afford food. That means,that meals are cut and families can no longer afford vegetables or fruit, so that the malnutrition of children increases. In addition, droughts have damaged harvests and the houses of smallholders have been destroyed by the fighting. If these people return now, they will be left with nothing.

SPIEGEL:

What do people need most urgently?

ten Boer:

In the regions in which we work, there is a lack of nutritious food.

However, I prefer to work with local providers in order to stimulate the private sector in the country and not bring everything in from outside.

But for this the banks have to open again.

In addition, it would be too expensive to buy everything in Tajikistan, and it would be a long way from Pakistan to northern Afghanistan.

SPIEGEL:

What do you fear for the coming days, weeks and months?

ten Boer:

We now have to help people rebuild their homes.

Because in two or three months we will have winter - and it will be bitterly cold here.

At minus 20 degrees, people cannot survive in tents or makeshift housing.

That affects hundreds of thousands.

They need security, food, possibly financial support or even building materials, but not necessarily local experts.

The people here can do a lot themselves.

This contribution is part of the Global Society project

Expand areaWhat is the Global Society project?

Reporters from

Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe

report under the title “Global Society”

- on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development.

The reports, analyzes, photo series, videos and podcasts appear in the international section of SPIEGEL.

The project is long-term and will be supported for three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

A detailed FAQ with questions and answers about the project can be found here.

AreaWhat does the funding look like in concrete terms?

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting the project for three years with a total of around 2.3 million euros.

Are the journalistic content independent of the foundation?

Yes.

The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.

Do other media have similar projects?

Yes.

Big European media like "The Guardian" and "El País" have set up similar sections on their news sites with "Global Development" and "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.

Have there already been similar projects at SPIEGEL?

In the past few years, SPIEGEL has already implemented two projects with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: the “Expedition ÜberMorgen” on global sustainability goals and the journalistic refugee project “The New Arrivals” as part of this several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and flight have been produced.

Where can I find all publications on global society?

The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL on the topic Global Society.