The news of the attack on the humanitarian organization “Operation Mercy” in Kabul. A personal report of the DW-reporters Sandra Petersmann and Birgitta Schülke-Gill about the hazards and crisis operations.
Birgitta Schülke-Gill (left) and Sandra Peter man in Afghanistan
We are engrossed in our work. To hear. Read The Deportation Orders. Amir Nuri, Mujtaba and Isa tell us about your fear of life in Kabul. We sit together in the Afghan capital, with deported asylum-seekers from Germany and the us with the terrible news of the attack on Swedish charity organization “Operation Mercy”. We are concerned and scared. Each stop is appalling. In Kabul. Paris. Brussels. Nice. Berlin.
Still, the details of which are unclear. We talk on the phone with contacts in Kabul to learn more. We observe on social media, what reports Afghan colleagues.
We inform our families that we were okay. Friends and colleagues call, send messages via SMS and Whatsapp. The deported young men understand German well enough, to pursue our discussions with the home. Mujtaba and Isa, speak to us your condolences. We speak with the editor-in-chief, and the safety coordinator, and weighing.
The target was foreigners
The image is compressed. The attack on Saturday evening was for foreigners. The aim of the residential complex of the auxiliary organization. An Afghan security guard and a German assistant are dead. The guard was beheaded. A Finnish worker was kidnapped. It is not the first targeted attack on foreigners in Kabul. However, most of the attacks hit Afghan civilians. Since the beginning of the year there has been in Kabul for at least seven serious attacks through which several hundred people were killed or injured. Either the Taliban or the self-proclaimed “Islamic state is known”.
We have seen in the past few days, a calm Afghan capital. The fortress of Kabul with its high blast walls and barbed wire barriers affects our landing a few days ago in a friendly. The sun is shining on the steel-blue sky. The people with whom we talk, meet us, open and friendly. How deceptive this calm, not only proves this most recent attack.
A Bazaar in the evening rush hour: Fragile security in Kabul
There are in Kabul, no guarantee on safety. A place that is secure today, tomorrow may be a site of the attack. We have imposed on us prior to our departure, own safety rules. Our employer has for crisis operations, a clear set of rules. Because we hold. We listen to our gut feeling. That’s about it.
Terror and violence are part of everyday life
We ask all our interviewees, what do you think that the US and its NATO partners want to again send more troops to Afghanistan. “What’s that supposed to bring, if nothing else changes?” “The most Important thing is that we Afghans, us are in agreement and that our government finally ruled, instead of arguing.” “What will bring more foreign soldiers, if they can’t fight?” “We need to disarm the many militias, and only our security forces.” “NATO has failed. You want us the UN to send troops.” “We want the international community first safety and then education.”
So different the answers are: None of the surveyed citizens feel safe in Kabul. But all live with the risk, because life must go on. We don’t often hear the sentence: “If we leave the house in the morning, we will know whether we will return alive in the evening, but we can’t stop living.”
We, as foreign guests in this city today, after the latest attack, not in greater danger than you were yesterday, before the murderous attack. Terror and violence in the Afghan capital of everyday life. Added to this is gang crime. Kidnappings have become a business model.
We are journalists, here to everyday life in the Afghan capital. We know Kabul and Afghanistan of many trips. Afghanistan is a country at war. The international military operation, now in 16. Year, the country’s progress and Opening, but no peace and no security.