Senior Advocate Larry Thompson and Director for Development Scott Schirmer will travel shortly to Afghanistan.  Refugees International has visited Afghanistan many times and we plan to gather information to continue our advocacy on behalf of refugees, displaced persons, and other vulnerable people.  We will also look at progress in reconstruction of the country and the impact of growing insecurity on Afghans and aid workers in the country.    

Afghanistan has undergone dramatic changes since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.  A process to install a democratic government is underway.   More than three million refugees and displaced persons have returned from Pakistan and Iran.  Many towns and cities, destroyed during two decades of civil war, are being rebuilt.  A devastating drought has ended which made it possible for Afghan farmers to produce bumper crops of wheat and other products last year.  International aid has financed the return to school of millions of Afghan children, especially girls, the construction of new roads, and the beginnings of disarmament and community development programs. However, although donors have pledged sizeable amounts of aid to Afghanistan, the aid has sometimes been slow in arriving and the continuing commitment of donors remains a concern.         

Progress has been threatened, moreover, by continuing problems of insecurity.  One third of the country is off-limits to aid workers and insecurity threatens national elections now scheduled for September 2004.  Warlords, regional leaders, narcotics traffickers, and the remnants of the Taliban continue to control large parts of the country and the writ of the central government is only slowly expanding outside Kabul.   Until security improves in the country the progress achieved in establishing a decent, democratic government and promoting economic growth in Afghanistan is very fragile.     

The RI team plans to visit several regions of Afghanistan and will talk to Afghans in all walks of life, including former refugees, farmers, businessmen, government officials, and nomads (kuchis).   We will return to several areas we have visited on previous occasions to see the progress made and to understand the continuing concerns of the people.  We will highlight in our reports and recommendations the most important humanitarian problems now affecting the people plus attempt to anticipate the problems that loom on the horizon.  

If our readers have suggestions or comments concerning our upcoming visit to Afghanistan, we invite them to communicate with us at our e-mail address of ri@refugeesinternational.org.