After a series of attacks on its staff, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has taken the decision to reduce its presence in Afghanistan. “Since December 2016, the ICRC has been directly targeted in northern Afghanistan three times, including in what we considered one of our safest facilities, the rehabilitation centre in Mazar-i-Sharif, provincial capital of Balkh. These incidents have affected not only the ICRC in Afghanistan, but the organisation as a whole,” said Monica Zanarelli, head of delegation for the ICRC in Afghanistan. A press release from ICRC stated that following intensive discussions, together with the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva, the ICRC has reached the conclusion that there is no other choice but to drastically reduce its presence and activities in Afghanistan, in particular in the north of the country. The statement added that consequently the ICRC’s offices of Faryab and Kunduz provinces will be closed, while its sub-delegation in Mazar-i-Sharif will be seriously downsised.
In December 2016, an ICRC staff member was abducted in Kunduz province, and released four weeks later. This incident was followed by the brutal killing of six staff and the abduction of two others in Jawzjan province. After a seven-month-long ordeal, the two abducted staff were released on 5 September. Only six days after that, a physiotherapist was shot and killed by a long-term patient inside the rehabilitation centre in Mazar-i-Sharif.
