More Thoughts on Attacks Against Aid Workers

by Michael Bear

category: Humanitarian Relief

Published December 30, 2008 @ 11:20AM PT

There was an interesting article last week on the Huffington Post - Potentially Lethal: Increased Relationship Between Military and Aid - about how increased cooperation and coordination between the US military and USAID contributes to the growing number of attacks against aid workers in places like Afghanistan.

According to the article:

"A meeting this month in Kabul turned acrimonious when USAID and Department of Defense (DoD) officials briefed international aid agencies on the new policy of the US government. The plan, titled Civilian-Military Cooperation Policy, outlines that USAID will 'cooperate with DoD in joint planning, assessment and evaluation, training, implementation, and communication in all aspects of foreign assistance activities where both organizations are operating, and where civilian-military cooperation will advance USG foreign policy.'"

As Elizabeth Ferris from the Brookings Institution explains later in the article:

"Once insurgent groups (or governments in some situations) perceive that a humanitarian organization is acting to pursue military or political objectives, that organization loses the protection it had by virtue of respect for humanitarian principles. If it is known (or suspected) that a humanitarian NGO is not only treating wounded kids in an insurgent area, but is also passing on information about that area to military officials, the NGO usually loses its protection from all sides. Rather than being seen as acting impartially on the basis of humanitarian need, it is seen as a party to the conflict -- and too often, fair game for attacks on its staff by insurgents."

It's understandable why NGOs were upset, especially considering that 33 aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan this year alone.

Anyhows, my personal feeling is that closer ties between USAID and the DoD certainly don't make the situation any safer for aid workers, but that the real problem lies even deeper.  The brutal truth is that insurgents in Afghanistan and elsewhere increasingly view US (and western) NGOs as anything but impartial, independent and neutral.

Hence, for instance, the comments made by the Taliban after killing three IRC staff and their driver in Afghanistan this past August, accusing the victims of being part of the "foreign invader forces".

This isn't simply a result of closer ties between the US military and USAID.  Many in the NGO community would also blame the military for engaging in reconstruction and development activities that "blur the lines" between soldiers and aid workers.  But again, I think this is far too simplistic.

Instead, it's an issue of having your cake and eating it, too.  It's not surprising that NGOs are targeted when they work to support the Afghan Government, which itself is very much a combatant.

For instance, many NGOs in Afghanistan participate in the National Solidarity Program (NSP) - on one hand, this is completely understandable, seeing as how it involves working with the Afghan Government to bring increased development to the provinces through the use of community development councils.

On the other hand, from the Taliban's perspective, this could very much be seen as part of a broader counter-insurgency effort, meant to increase the Afghan Government's popularity in areas where it traditionally has held little sway.

I'm not saying that NGOs shouldn't be involved in NSP, or other similar development programs - simply that such involvement carries very real risks.  Especially in a context like Afghanistan, where many agencies implement both humanitarian and development programs.

If we want to figure out why NGOs are increasingly targeted, it's not enough to blame others, be it USAID, or the military.  We have to start by examining what we ourselves as humanitarians are doing.

[N.B. - I've since heard from another source that the article quoted above contained a number of factual errors, including the fact that the meeting in question actually took place in DC, not Kabul.]

[Body of an aid worker recovered in Afghanistan - Photo from the LA Times]