Doctors Without Borders Leaving Afghanistan

It survived Soviet occupation, civil war, the Taliban and US-led invasion. But after 24 years of aid work, Médecins sans Frontières [Doctors Without Borders] has been forced by the American military to flee Afghanistan.

With all the talk about Iraq and how the Bush administration has fucked up/not fucked up the occupation of that country, poor Afghanistan has fallen from the radar screens. Violence, in the anarchy that is Afghanistan, is on the rise as the politically motivated presidential elections approach there. The opium harvest will be one of the biggest ever in Afghanistan, remember the Taliban had all but eliminated it. Now U.S. strategy there is making it A frontier too far for humanitarian aide workers.

Aid workers who remained in Afghanistan throughout the years of Soviet occupation, tribal anarchy and Taliban rule are preparing to flee the country because US military tactics have made it too dangerous to operate there.

A grim shadow was cast over the future of all aid missions to Afghanistan when the French organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said independent humanitarian work could no longer be carried out safely. MSF claimed the American military had endangered the lives of humanitarian volunteers by blurring the distinction between soldiers and aid workers. Five MSF workers were killed last month.

So, the Bush administration has found a new way to kill innocent civilians by depriving them of medical care. It is believed that MSF will only prove to be the first to leave.

Phil Halton of the independent Afghanistan NGO Security Office, which advises aid workers on safety, said he expected other organizations to now take another look at whether or not to stay. Two weeks ago, Goal, a small Irish group that works with children, left Afghanistan quoting security fears.

Mr Halton said: "It really is a watershed when MSF pulls out. They are regarded as an outfit which is prepared to go to riskier places than anybody else."

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