Taliban 'will no longer protect Red Cross staff in Afghanistan', amid rising attacks on health workers

The debris from a Taliban assault in northern Afghanistan which killed at least 30 soldiers and police. Insurgents said they will no longer protect Red Cross workers - AP
The debris from a Taliban assault in northern Afghanistan which killed at least 30 soldiers and police. Insurgents said they will no longer protect Red Cross workers - AP

The Taliban have said they will no longer protect Red Cross workers in Afghanistan, after it alleged the aid group was failing its prisoners held in a Kabul jail.

The insurgent movement said it would not guarantee the lives and property of the international humanitarian charity and criticised its conduct.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) operations have already been significantly scaled back in the country after seven staff were killed last year.

More than 1,000 Red Cross staff work in the country, and the organisation says it has supported those caught in the country's long-running conflicts for 30 years.

The group has run medical centres and rehabilitation centres for the wounded for 30 years and used its reputation for impartiality to gain access to all sides. It makes prison visits to ensure detainees are being treated well and repatriates bodies to both sides after clashes. In 2010 it was disclosed the group had also given first aid training to Taliban fighters.

The International Red Cross however has not made any arrangements to treat the prisoners

Taliban statement

But a statement from the Taliban blamed the organisation for failing to ensure decent conditions for insurgent prisoners in the capital's Pul-e-Charkhi prison.

It said prisoners were held in dire circumstances, sometimes without medical treatment, and hundreds had gone on hunger strike to demand better conditions.

The statement said: “The International Red Cross however has not made any arrangements to treat the prisoners or demand the prison officials provide proper medical care for the patients.

“Therefore [The Taliban] announces the withdrawal of the security commitment that it had given to the International Red Cross for their activities in Afghanistan.”

It said that it would no longer “guarantee the protection of their lives and property until they come to an agreement with [The Taliban] to correct their actions.

A spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Afghanistan said it was concerned by the statement.

Power struggle | Islamic State 'make Taliban look co-operative'
Power struggle | Islamic State 'make Taliban look co-operative'

The Taliban threat came amid growing concern at the number of attacks on health workers in the country.

Doctors, nurses and hospitals are under increasing attack in Afghanistan, health groups have warned, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world for medical workers.

Aid agencies tracking shootings, bombings and kidnappings in the country's health sector say the situation is worsening, with a trend towards more direct attacks on staff and buildings.

Afghanistan sees the third highest number of attacks on health workers in the world, according to one report.

As fighting makes it more difficult for doctors and nurses to work, and clinics close, people are left without medical treatment.

Recent high profile attacks included a suicide bombing assault late last month on a midwives' training college in the eastern city of Jalalabad killing two guards and a driver. In January, the UK charity Save the Children temporarily shut operations in Afghanistan after an Islamic State suicide squad attacked its offices in the same city.

But there have also been dozens of unreported incidents of kidnapping, intimidation and assaults.

“The nature of the attacks has significantly changed and the effects of the attacks are becoming more severe,” according to one international assessment seen by the Telegraph.

“An alarming number of health personnel have been attacked. Health personnel are constantly being harassed, detained, kidnapped, or the worst happens and they get killed.”

Health personnel are constantly being harassed, detained, kidnapped, or the worst happens and they get killed

Internal report

The attacks mirror increasing violence against medical staff in conflicts around the world. A 2016 United Nations resolution condemning attacks and calling on armed groups and states to abide by international law has failed to halt the violence.

Attacks in Afghanistan have been carried out by all factions in the fighting, including Taliban and Islamic State group insurgents and Afghan security forces backed by international troops.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) last year began tallying attacks and estimates there were 54 in the first six months of 2018 alone.

This year has seen more direct attacks than last.

David Lai, the WHO's health cluster coordinator for Afghanistan, told the Telegraph: “If you specifically look at the kind of incidents that were happening in 2017, they were mostly forced closures, incidents where health facilities were forced to close for a period of time. We count that as an attack on healthcare.

“For 2018 that still happens, we are still seeing provinces where a large number of health facilities are forced to close, but we are in fact seeing incidents where they are more direct targets and more specifically targeting health facilities, healthcare workers and health assets like ambulances. We are seeing more of that.”

The figures are likely to be higher than recorded, with attacks in remote areas or those with poor security going uncounted.

“What of course is difficult is that there is a high level of under reporting because people are afraid to report,” said an official at another aid agency, who declined to be named.

“Doctors are afraid to report, patients are afraid to report, nurses and so on.”

The WHO's figures show 12 health staff killed so far this year, and 52 kidnapped or detained. Twenty eight clinics or hospitals have been closed or destroyed and 25 damaged or looted. Nangarhar province, in the country's east, has seen more than a third of all attacks this year. The province has seen years of heavy fighting and has recently become a stronghold of Islamic State group.

A recent report by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict coalition estimated 66 attacks in Afghanistan throughout 2017. It estimated only Syria and the Occupied Palestinian Territories had seen more.

Examples included boobytraps and homemade bombs placed near clinics and Taliban insurgent threats against women nurses.

Insurgents kidnapped doctors to force them to treat wounded fighters and elsewhere police arrested doctors suspected of giving medicine to militants. In one of the worst incidents of 2017, Islamic State group gunmen disguised as medics attacked a military hospital in Kabul, killing at least 50.

Newsletter promotion - global health security - end of article
Newsletter promotion - global health security - end of article

 Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security