There has been no change in the position of Dutch aid organisations in Afghanistan now that the Dutch soldiers have left. The incident in northern Afghanistan in which eight Western doctors and two Afghan interpreters were killed on Friday will not change that, at least not for the time being.

Five Dutch aid organisations are active in Afghanistan under the name Dutch Consortium for Uruzgan: Cordaid, Save the Children, Zoa Vluchtelingenzorg, Healthnet TPO and the Dutch Committee for Afghanistan. In addition, some organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and the International Red Cross are independently active in the region.

Contract
Cordaid official Paul van der Burg explains that: “Dutch Consortium for Uruzgan has a contract which expires in 2013. It’s not dependent on the presence of the Dutch army.” He says the aid organisations made a conscious decision to operate independently from the military so as not to be bound by their date of departure.

There have been consultations with the US and Australian forces which have taken over from the Dutch. They want to invest in tribal politics and build respect among the population just like the Dutch did. “If they decided to pursue a completely different policy, it could have an impact on how we run our projects. We are keeping a close watch on developments”, according to Paul van der Burg.

Discussions
Cordaid says the death of the doctors and interpreters has had a strong impact on aid workers. A medical team of the organisation International Assistance Mission was killed in the northeast of the country on Friday. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the Taliban. The doctors were allegedly proselytising. However, IAM doubts whether the Taliban actually carried out the killings.

“Security is once again the subject of discussions”, says Paul van der Burg. These discussions are primarily being held among Western aid workers and expats, and to a much lesser extent among the Afghan aid workers employed by Cordaid. So far, incidents have never led to an exodus.

Michiel Hofman, head of the mission of Médecins Sans Frontières in Afghanistan, says he is not surprised about the death of the aid workers. “In this case the attack was reported by the media because there were foreign doctors on the team. Unfortunately, attacks on medical posts and hospitals take place just about every month.

Guarantees
MSF withdrew from Afghanistan after the death of five of its employees in 2004. The aid organisation returned last year. According to Michiel Hofman, on a completely different basis.

“In 2004, there was no war in a large part of Afghanistan, and we did our work accordingly. These days we only visit places that can be reached by airplane. All warring parties must guarantee they will not attack doctors, patients or hospitals, and we communicate which people are working for us. There must never be any misunderstandings about that”.

The International Red Cross also carries on with its work in Afghanistan. A spokesperson says its employees always work without an escort and continue to put their faith in the laws of war, which ban attacks on medical aid workers. There are currently no Dutch IRC workers in the area.

“MSF doctors know what they are in for” says Michiel Hofman. 'I do not expect any MSF staff to suddenly want to leave after Friday’s incident.