Afghanistan facing another bleak year, says UK relief agency
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Dec 20, IRNA -- International relief agency, Oxfam, has criticised the US strategy review of Afghanistan, saying it does not include the “vital steps necessary to protect civilians as security is passed to Afghan control.”
“While we can all agree that 2011 needs to be a year for ‘lasting and irreversible’ progress, the signs are not looking good,” said Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking.
“This year is the deadliest for civilians in a decade, with civilian casualties up 31% in the first six months. Keeping people safe from increasing violence is critical when Isaf troops leave,” Stocking warned.
Last week, the White House review of President Obama's Afghan war strategy suggested that although the Taliban momentum in Afghanistan had been arrested and in some areas reversed, those gains remained fragile and reversible.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague was also forced to deny that plans to transfer security to nascent Afghan forces to allow the withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan was based on “a hope, a wing and a prayer.”
“The US and Nato allies need to ensure that the Afghan security forces are adequately trained and mechanisms are put in place to prevent human rights abuses,” Stockwell said.
“This is essential as Afghan forces, in particular the police, are seen by most Afghans as ineffective, corrupt, or abusive,” she said in a letter to the Guardian, published on Monday.
The chief executive of the British-based charity called for the ‘community defence initiatives’ to be abandoned,” saying it was used to support poorly trained and unaccountable local militia groups to fight the Taliban.
“The Afghan people will need more than security. They also need a long-term commitment to development, health, education, better governance and the rights we take for granted. Without these, the new year for Afghan civilians will look as gloomy as 2010,” she said.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30133924
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