BLOG

Monday’s early morning attack on the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) came as a shock to the humanitarian community – shock quickly followed by concerns UNHCR might be forced to halt its important work assisting displaced Afghans.

The initial car bomb destroyed a shared wall between UNHCR’s guesthouse and the compound of International Relief and Development (IRD), a nonprofit aid provider. The attackers then entered UNHCR’s compound and killed three of its guards. While Afghan National Police (ANP) eventually responded, hours went by before the attackers were killed.

According to the Taliban’s website, spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed full responsibility for the attack, but only mentioned “the IRD building of foreign invaders” as the organization’s target.  

Beyond that, it's not clear if this attack is a case of the Taliban deliberately targeting UNHCR. Despite the UN’s role in supporting both the Afghan government and ISAF, the conventional wisdom is that UNHCR’s decades-long history of assisting Afghan refugees – both in exile and upon their return home – has protected the agency by making it acceptable to all sides of the conflict.

The same cannot be said, however, for IRD. While the group is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization, its programming in Afghanistan is decidedly uncharacteristic of most NGOs. Virtually all of its $800 million budget coming from USAID contracts. Its road-building program and public image in Afghanistan are also closer to that of a for-profit contractor, with its numerous armed guards and “poppy palace” compounds in Kabul’s elite neighborhood.

None of this in any way justifies the deadly attack on IRD's facility, but it does highlight the fact that international donors’ continued use of aid for political and security purposes puts humanitarians in the line of fire.

The withdrawal of international troops will inevitably result in reduced aid budgets for Afghanistan. And while many hope this will put an end to the dangerous pairing of aid with politics, it’s clear from this week’s tragedy that the damage to humanitarian independence and neutrality in Afghanistan has already been done.