{"id":5374,"date":"2017-03-02T10:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=5374"},"modified":"2017-03-01T09:08:33","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T14:08:33","slug":"red-cross-terminates-assistance-in-afghanistan-after-employee-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2017\/03\/02\/red-cross-terminates-assistance-in-afghanistan-after-employee-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Cross Terminates Assistance in Afghanistan After Employee Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Joshua Corpuz<br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the Jowzjan Province of Afghanistan, six International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employees were killed and two others went missing after an attack on February 8. The ICRC employees were carrying supplies to towns and villages suffering from the snowstorms and avalanches in the northern area of the country <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/02\/scores-dead-heavy-snowfall-afghanistan-pakistan-170205144645890.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that killed over 100 people<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Governor Lutfullah Azizi of the Jowzjan Province blamed the Islamic State group\u2019s affiliates for the attack. The motive behind the attack was believed to be a desire to maintain the Islamic State\u2019s military footholds in the northern and eastern regions of Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marie Claire Feghali, ICRC spokesperson, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/02\/icrc-afghan-red-cross-workers-killed-missing-170208131532856.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">told Al Jazeera<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that the organization \u201cmakes contact with all the groups that are active on the ground.\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;We do not know why our convoy was attacked,\u201d Feghali stated, noting that her team \u201cwould have made all the contacts and they were in clearly marked ICRC cars.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/02\/08\/world\/asia\/afghanistan-red-cross-icrc.html?ref=asia&amp;_r=0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New York Times<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the Red Cross \u201chad begun a mission to distribute livestock material in the Qush Tepah area of Jowzjan Province, where the attack happened, but that its work was paused by recent avalanches. When workers went to resume giving out aid, they were targeted.\u201d Mr. Azizi stressed that the area \u201cis rife with militant groups, including five Islamic State factions with about 200 fighters total.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a result of the attacks on its employees, the Red Cross placed all of its activities on hold. The ICRC global operations head, Dominik Stillhart, reported that \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we speak our operations are on hold indeed, because we need to understand what exactly happened before we can hopefully resume our operations,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8221; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-afghanistan-attack-idUSKBN15N1BL\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">according to Reuters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A search operation was launched to find the two missing aid workers. The ICRC noted, however, that due to the conflict and violence in the area, it has been very difficult to mobilize and bring humanitarian aid to parts of Afghanistan. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Zabiullah Mujahid, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">pokesman for the Taliban, stated that \u201chis group was <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-afghanistan-attack-idUSKBN15N1BL\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">not involved in the attack<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and promised that Taliban members would put all their efforts into finding the perpetrators.\u201d At this time, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the ICRC workers&#8217; bodies had been taken to the provincial capital.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Stillhart, \u201cICRC would pause its programs out of respect for the slain aid workers. A date to resume the humanitarian aid has not been announced yet. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thomas Glass, a public relations officer for ICRC, explained that \u201cWe&#8217;ve <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/02\/afghanistan-icrc-halts-operations-workers-killed-170209062643029.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">been in Afghanistan for the past 30 years<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> assisting people in need. We want to provide aid and help but not at the cost of our colleagues. So we need to know what happened before we restart our humanitarian efforts.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The attack came a day after a suicide bomb was detonated in the parking lot of the Supreme Court in Kabul, the country\u2019s capital. At least 20 people were killed, and at least 35 people injured from the blast. Later on, the Islamic State <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/02\/07\/world\/afghanistan-explosion\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">claimed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> responsibility for the attack through Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Starting in 2015, former Taliban members, now members of the Islamic State, began to terrorize parts of Afghanistan. After a year, the United Nations <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/02\/08\/world\/asia\/afghanistan-red-cross-icrc.html?ref=asia&amp;_r=0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that \u201cin 2016 there was a tenfold jump in civilian casualties caused in attacks by the Islamic State.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/02\/icrc-afghan-red-cross-workers-killed-missing-170208131532856.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Al Jazeera<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the February 8 attack was &#8220;one of the few incidents&#8221; in the country&#8217;s north carried out by ISIS, which has been mainly active in the east. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Islamic State has been trying to establish a foothold in Afghanistan and has stepped attacks around the country, mainly targeting the Shi&#8217;ite Muslim minority community. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Six International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employees were killed and two others went missing after an attack on February 8, in the Jowzjan Province of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3544,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[993,382,386,388],"tags":[465,1020],"class_list":["post-5374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-march-2017","category-international-news","category-asia","category-mid-east","tag-isis","tag-red-cross"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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