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"Mercy Corps and local staff are distributing relief supplies to displaced families and supporting the agency’s longer-term development work." Photo: Lloyd Francis/Mercy Corps.
QUETTA, Pakistan - A Mercy Corps assessment team arrived in Kandahar City yesterday to re-establish the office that has been the base of Mercy Corps’ Afghanistan operations for more than 10 years. Mercy Corps also delivered essential medical supplies to Hazarjuft Hospital in the former Taliban-controlled Helmand Province west of Kandahar. These activities mark what Mercy Corps hopes is a turning point in the ability to provide humanitarian aid in southern Afghanistan.
Mercy Corps is one of the first international agencies to enter the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, less than a week after anti-Taliban forces took control of the city.
“Our staff in Kandahar City will immediately begin the process of identifying needs and seeking solutions to meet those needs,” said Mercy Corps Regional Director Jim White. “It is our sincere hope that the interim government will provide the necessary humanitarian space so that we and our partner agencies can get to the work of improving the lives of the people of Kandahar. The invitation to Mercy Corps to re-establish our office was a first, good sign that they understand the value of our work.”
The Mercy Corps office in Kandahar was looted and occupied several weeks ago. Mercy Corps staff are now re-opening the office and assessing the needs of the region that has been cut off from international humanitarian assistance since early October. They will meet with local officials and representatives of the interim government.
Mercy Corps’ delivery of essential medical supplies to Hazarjuft Hospital was the first re-supply of relief items to the hospital since the conflict began. The delivery to the Mercy Corps-managed hospital was made just three days after the announced Taliban surrender of Kandahar and Helmand Provinces. Hazarjuft (also known as Darweshan) is located south of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
During the coalition bombing and ground fighting in Helmand Province, the Hazarjuft Hospital and Mercy Corps’ network of Basic Health Units were kept in operation thanks to prepositioned stocks of medical supplies. This recent delivery boosts the stocks enough to serve the medical needs of 100,000 people for two months.
“It was critical that this shipment reached the Hazarjuft Hospital quickly and not disrupt Mercy Corps’ health services during this time of great need,” said Jim White. “The long-term service Mercy Corps has been proving is essential to the communities of Helmand Province and our continued assistance now is more important than ever. ”
Mercy Corps is coordinating its Afghanistan humanitarian aid and development programs out if its office in Quetta, Pakistan. The agency will send international staff into the former Taliban-controlled areas as soon as security permits.
In northern Afghanistan, Mercy Corps and local staff are distributing relief supplies to displaced families and supporting the agency’s longer-term development work.
Mercy Corps has worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than 15 years with a variety of humanitarian and economic development programs including health services, food aid, agricultural programs, veterinary care for livestock, engineering and drilling wells, drought relief and rehabilitation services, and sanitation projects. The agency employs more than 300 national staff in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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