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The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

Mission Mandate

The Bonn Agreement in December 2001 led to the creation of the current Afghan state and its institutions. As a result of the agreement, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) was established in March 2002 by UN Security Council Resolution 1401. UNAMA, a special political mission administered by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, coordinates the work of 23 UN agencies in Afghanistan.

This Mission’s mandate includes:

• Aiding reconstruction;
• Fighting corruption;
• Monitoring and coordinating efforts to protect citizens and their human rights, especially those of women and children;
• Providing humanitarian and development assistance;
• Advising and assisting the government with security, governance, and regional cooperation.

On 22 March 2012, the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2041 (2012) renewing UNAMA’s mandate until March 2013.

Background

From the mid-1990s until 2001, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and provided a safe haven for Osama Bin Laden and other members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., the international community responded to the threats posed by terrorists in Afghanistan.

In October 2001, the U.S. and its allies launched a bombing offensive against the Taliban. Within weeks, U.S.-led troops, with the assistance of Afghan forces such as the Northern Alliance, forced the Taliban from power. After the fall of the Taliban, UNAMA played a key role in creating a stable and secure environment to rebuild the country.
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How This Affects American Interests

  • Disarms and demobilizes. UNAMA has made Afghanistan safer for its civilians and U.S. and international forces by facilitating the removal of more than 40,000 heavy and light weapons, clearing 43 percent of the known hazardous landmines areas, disbanding 312 illegal armed groups, and confiscating 5,700 weapons. The number of armed groups in Afghanistan has been reduced after 960 men joined reintegration programs. In addition, UNAMA’s presence has facilitated a 49 percent decrease in night raids of villages. Insurgents are also undergoing reintegration throughout Afghanistan. Since its inception, the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, in collaboration with UNDP, has reintegrated 1,809 insurgents in 17 provinces

  • Transitions poppy farming into agribusiness. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provides the United States with crucial information to better combat Afghanistan’s drug trade. The Winter 2011 Afghan Opium Assessment reports a 65 percent increase in the eradication of opium poppy fields in 2011. In addition, one of the goals of the UNODC and the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Afghanistan is to provide alternate livelihood opportunities to those ensnared in the illicit selling and growing of opium, so that they may generate sustainable income and become socially integrated persons in their communities. In August, UNODC provided motorbike repair training to 12 opium farmers, in residential areas where technical skills were in high demand. This program taught farmers a technical skill and basic literacy. UNODC and UNDP continue to encourage rural development by transitioning farmers in Afghanistan’s most severely affected areas from the production of poppy to farming of commodities like grains, fruits, and vegetables. As of 2011, 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces are poppy free. Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran have cooperated in operations that resulted in the seizure of 2,500 kg of opium since 2010.

  • Supporting Afghan National Police (ANP). Survey results  released in February 2012, conducted by the United Nations Developmental Program show that public perception of the police in Afghanistan has improved over the past three years with the proportion of Afghans expressing personal respect for the country’s law enforcement rising to 81 per cent, an eight-point increase since last year. The survey polled 7,278 Afghans across all 34 provinces and also revealed that 53 percent of respondents believe it was beneficial to their communities to have female police, an eight per cent increase from last year.    UNAMA is also working to improve the literacy skills of the Afghan Police. In Afghanistan, more than 70% of police officers are unable to read or write. This lack of basic literacy skills can lead to misunderstandings and aggravate tensions between the Afghan National Police (ANP) and the population at large, posing a challenge to U.S. nation-building efforts. To remedy this situation, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched a program in June 2011 to provide literacy training for 3,000 members of the ANP. These types of initiatives are indispensable to larger U.S. efforts to build well-trained, effective Afghan security forces.

  • Rebuilding infrastructure. Since 2003, UNAMA has supported the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) and the Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) in the construction and rehabilitation of over 10,000 km of roads, created more than 13 million labor days primarily for rural impoverished groups, and has provided tangible benefits to the rural population in the form of wages and improved infrastructure in all 34 provinces in Afghanistan. Additionally, with the help of the UN, the Afghan government has been successful in constructing 179 district government offices.

  • Curbing Gender-based Violence. UNAMA works with Afghan authorities to support implementation of the country’s Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law, enacted in 2009 to criminalize child marriage, forced marriage, and acts of violence against women. While gender-based violence remains widespread in Afghanistan and serious challenges remain to full enforcement of the law, 28 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces opened cases under the law between March 2010 and March 2011.

  • Supporting National Electoral Processes. UNDP has been working to support free, fair, and inclusive elections in Afghanistan since 2004. Between 2006 and 2011, through its Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow (ELECT) program, UNDP sought to strengthen the capacity of Afghan electoral authorities, including the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), to prepare for and conduct credible national elections. As a result of these efforts, during Afghanistan’s 2010 parliamentary elections, 400,000 new voters were registered and the participation of women increased, with women making up 40 percent of all voters. In December 2011, UNDP and the IEC signed an agreement establishing ELECT II, a two-year project aimed at continuing efforts to improve the IEC’s technical capacity and infrastructure, explore future options for the voter registry, and broaden participation.

Ongoing Challenges

  • AfghanistanContinued instability.U.S.-UN efforts to improve security in Afghanistan have been successful in some areas, notably Kabul and its neighboring provinces. However, for the fifth year in row civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose according to UNAMA’s 2011 Annual Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, released in February 2012. The report documents 3,021 civilian deaths in 2011 compared with 2,790 in 2010 and 2,412 in 2009. Over the past five years, the number of Afghan civilians killed in the armed conflict has increased each year, with a total of 11,864 civilian lives claimed by the conflict since 2007. The majority of violence is located in south and southeast Afghanistan along the Pakistani border near Kandahar City. Improvised explosive devices (IED) remain an eminent threat, responsible for 967 (32 per cent) civilian casualties in 2011. In addition to IEDs, complex suicide attacks targeting provincial and district governors, local government workers, provincial and peace council members, local community and tribal elders remain prevalent. In total attacks of this nature resulted in 495 deaths.  The planned withdrawal of 30,000 U.S. forces from Afghanistan by September 2012 has increased concern about the security situation and UNAMA moving forward.

  • Returning refugees. More than 5.7 million Afghan refugees, roughly one quarter of the population, have returned to the country since 2002. Still, 3 million refugees reside outside Afghanistan, the majority in neighboring Iran (1 million) and Pakistan (1.7 million). In 2011 alone UNHCR reported that 185,632 were displaced due to insecurity, a 45 per cent increase from the previous year. The UN continues to assist refugees and IDPs on their return and reintegration by addressing returnees immediate needs during their first weeks in the country through cash grant programs and shelter assistance.

  • The opium drug trade. Afghanistan remains by far the largest source of illicit opium and heroin and continues to be the primary source of income for the Taliban. UNODC reported that the global heroin market is estimated at $68 billion, with 74 percent of the supply originating from Afghanistan. While, 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces are opium free and poppy field eradication has increased, overall opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2011 reached 131,000 hectares, a 7 percent increase since 2010.

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