Matteo Brunelli, regional Deputy Director of INTERSOS for Afghanistan tells about the last mission in Kandhar

Photo  Alessio Romenzi  for INTERSOS

 

 

Small differences. Details. A Kandahar that has changed subtly. Less traffic, certainly.  The economic crisis has impacted the livelihoods of individuals and increased the cost of gasoline as a means of transport. There is less visibility of the female population around the city (the use of the burqa, in these areas, was there before and still remains). A visual, immediate perception of decreased military presence. There are fewer checkpoints in and out of urban areas, and fewer police checks. It is an intentional sign of change, a normalization. Evident as early as the arrival at the airport, which has emptied after the departure of American troops.

 

Matteo Brunelli, INTERSOS regional deputy director for Afghanistan, recounts the first impressions from his last mission, and of the many weeks he spent in Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan. For Matteo it was his fifth mission to Afghanistan in the last two years, which followed a full two years spent in the country. Small differences, revealing details. “This time I didn’t have time to make pizza”. “Like pizza?”. “I like cooking, it’s a way of relaxing and sharing time with colleagues, but this time the evenings are spent on the computer: projects, phone calls, meetings to take stock of the day. There was too much to do. Because it is obvious: this mission was different from all the others”.

 

Big changes. “You know what happened. In a few weeks everything has changed, and the Taliban are the new de facto authority that controls the government of the country. We had to review every aspect of our work, even the details of the processes within the mission. And we had to do it by always moving on two levels: to guarantee the continuity of ongoing operations, which have never stopped, and to face new contingent difficulties (from visas to the lack of liquidity deriving from the blocking of international funds), and in the meantime to grow, continue to expand activities to respond to a never-before-seen humanitarian crisis”.

 

Because the present of Afghanistan today is this: 18 million people in need of urgent humanitarian aid, an exponential growth from 3.5 million in 2018. And 23 million people who are facing the harshness of winter in severe conditions food insecurity. There is a lack of food and basic necessities: the lives of a million children are in danger as temperatures drop below freezing.

 

“The scenario we are facing is not positive – underlines Matteo – We look with concern at the effects of the economic crisis, at the destabilization they may produce in the country, at the impact of climate change and the chronic drought that has afflicted the country for years, at the fragility of security situation with the presence of armed groups who want to assert their influence. Every day that passes narrows the window of time available to us to face this crisis”. If Matteo has now returned to Italy to coordinate the humanitarian operations underway in various countries, our mission continues. And never before is there no time to stop.