HIGHLIGHTS
· Kunduz residents have, for the most part, resumed the lives and livelihoods they had prior to the conflict, according to observations of OCHA mission.
· Conflict took a heavy financial toll on those displaced but most urgent and acute humanitarian needs have been met.
· WFP distributed food assistance; ARCS provided food and non-food items.
· Mine action teams surveyed and cleared the city of UXOs and ERW.
· Civilians remain at risk due to the tenuous security environment.
Displaced return as Kunduz security stabilizes
90 per cent of families displaced by conflict had returned by end of October
Non-state armed groups (NSAG) managed to seize and occupy Kunduz city in September and October before eventually withdrawing after two weeks of armed conflict with Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
The Kunduz regional airport, health facilities, and schools were closed and water, electrical and communication services disrupted during the conflict, which displaced at least 12,000 families and forced the evacuation of humanitarian actors, including UN agencies and international nongovernmental organizations (NGO).
After ANSF’s return, by the end of October an estimated 90 percent of displaced families had returned to Kunduz city in addition to international NGO, which quickly recommenced operations to support those returning. Residents of the provincial capital city in northwestern Afghanistan appeared to have resumed activities of typical daily life when a joint United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization mission visited in mid-November.
Water and electricity had been restored. The regional airport and hospital both had resumed regular operations. Shops and markets were open with sufficient supplies of food and other essential items, schools and public offices were operating, and for the most part people appear to have resumed the lives and livelihoods they had prior to the conflict.