Humanitarian Response on Monday issued the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) weekly report and stated that between 1 January and 31 August this year, 223,874 people fled their homes due to conflict in Afghanistan – an 11,000 increase against the same period last year.
The report stated that the provinces sheltering the highest number of displaced people are Kunduz with 28,261 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Nangarhar with 27,401 IDPs and Uruzgan with 17,062.
Humanitarian Response stated that in the central parts of the country heavy clashes erupted in the past week over the control of Baraki Barak, in Logar – however no new displacements were recorded.
Clashes meanwhile continued over the control of Janikhel, Paktia. The area has reportedly already been abandoned by most residents some weeks ago.
In 2017, a total of 11,990 people have been verified as displaced in the central region, just over five per cent of the total displacement.
However, insurgent activity in villages in Garziwan district, Faryab, led to about 700 people being displaced to Garziwan district center.
In addition to this about 5,200 people were displaced from more than half a dozen villages in Chardarah district, Kunduz, due to military operations that intensified on September 2, according to first reports. Those displaced either moved to Kunduz City, Aliabad district or remain in Chardara district.
Some 450 people reportedly displaced from Dasht-e-Archi and Emamsaheb districts in Kunduz to Taloqan City, Takhar province.
In total, more than 2,100 displaced people arrived in Taloqan City during the reporting period from Badakshan, Kunduz and Takhar provinces.
Since January, 90,190 people have been verified as displaced in the northern and northeastern regions, 40 percent of this year’s total.
Humanitarian Response said no significant new displacements have been reported from the eastern region during the reporting period.
Since January, 36,708 displaced people have been assessed in the eastern region - 16 percent of the total displacement in 2017.
In the southern section, military operations and clashes continued in Uruzgan and Zabul provinces without causing any major displacements, read the report. Ongoing assessments in Lashkargah, in Helmand, were put on hold for the Eid celebrations.
But 51,731 people are currently displaced in the southern and southeastern regions, 23 percent of the total displacements this year.
No major displacements have been reported during the reporting period for the western section. In total, 33,255 people are currently displaced inthe western region. They account for 15 percent of the total displaced people across the country.
In addition to this, more than 41,000 displaced people, undocumented returnees and refugees received some form of humanitarian assistance across the country, read the report.
This included food, cash, and emergency assistance.