Taliban evict 20,000 displaced people in Afghanistan's Badghís province

MADRID, 15 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Around 20,000 people who were displaced in makeshift camps have been evicted by the Taliban in Badghís province, Afghanistan, in sub-zero temperatures, according to a complaint by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

The NRC is now asking the Taliban authorities to stop new evictions of other internally displaced persons who are in many parts of the country awaiting a new alternative, as they warn above all of the winter conditions: "Many now lack food to feed their children and have no way of staying warm when temperatures drop below freezing," said NRC Afghanistan Director Neil Turner.

"The Badghís authorities must recognize that they have responsibilities towards the population. It is essential that the authorities ensure that families have shelter and can support themselves before undertaking further evictions; and they must also help those who have already been evicted," they say from the NRC.

The context of fighting and the consequences of the drought that has plagued the country since 2021 have forced thousands of families to leave their homes in the rural regions of Badghís to seek humanitarian aid in the provincial capital, Qala-e-Naw.

The Badghís province authorities urge families to return to their original villages and dismantle the makeshift camps, but many of them say they cannot survive in those regions for security and economic reasons.

The humanitarian community has begun negotiations and pilot return projects with the aim of making these returns gradually, but this has not made the authorities yield. The NRC has launched an emergency response to provide cash grants and essential goods to families who have left Badghís province.

"All evictions must stop until the Taliban authorities, with the support of the international and humanitarian communities, have found long-term solutions for highly vulnerable displaced communities," Turner said.

According to NRC data, around 2 million internally displaced people survive in 1,000 large shanty-type spontaneous settlements in almost 30 provinces of Afghanistan in precarious conditions and highly dependent on humanitarian aid.

The latest humanitarian response plan highlights the situation in Afghanistan as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. The country is entering its third consecutive year of drought and its second of economic decline, while living the consequences of decades of conflict and recurring natural disasters.