Afghanistan

Overview

The security situation in Afghanistan remains volatile as fighting between government and non-state armed groups, particularly the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan, intensified in 2019 amid ongoing peace negotiations between the US and the Taliban. Decades of conflict have had a severe impact on infrastructure, resilience, and population movement; in the first four months of 2019, more than 80,000 people were internally displaced by conflict.? A severe drought in 2018 has triggered additional internal displacement, decreased livelihood opportunities, and driven food insecurity that impacts more than 47% of the rural population, who largely rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.? 13.5 million people are currently estimated to face Crisis and Emergency (IPC 3 and 4) levels of food insecurity.? An increasing number of returnee-IDPs, primarily from Iran, put additional pressure on host community resources and international assistance.?

Latest Developments

The preliminary results of the Afghan Presidential elections have been delayed until 14 November due to technical issues in counting votes and verifying biometric voter data. The elections took place in Afghanistan on 28 September and preliminary results were initially expected by 19 October. Initial estimates suggest that 25% of eligible voters participated, which would be the lowest voter turnout in the four elections that have taken place since 2001. The low turnout is likely an indication of the deteriorating security situation in the country. The year 2019 has seen extremely high numbers of civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan and the Taliban is believed to control more territory today than at any point since being ousted in 2001. On election day, more than 2,000 polling centres were unable to open due to security concerns, and militants attacked communications towers which cut off nearly 1,000 polling stations from election headquarters in Kabul. A UN report found that there were 28 fatalities and 249 injuries on election day.?