Introduction to Initial Assessment Report on Afghanistan to UNDP 

After receiving a proposal [1] from Afghan Humanitarian, Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (AHRDO), a Kabul based registered [2] NGO [3] , with the request to initiate a Rural Support Programme in Afghanistan, Senior Advisor to UNDP, Mr. Shoaib Sultan Khan nominated Abid Ullah Jan and Ikramullah on behalf of UNDP to visit Afghanistan, meet the government officials and the communities for observing the overall environment, assessing potential and their willingness to commence and run a Rural Support Programme in Afghanistan.   

The proposal to Mr. Shoaib Sultan Kahn stressed on the fact that the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan has taken a heavy toll on its physical and economic infrastructure.  The conflict has also brought wholesale destruction of its social services and massive dislocation of its population.  This has severely weakened community resilience - the very resilience that has been the source of endurance for the average Afghans throughout the past 20 years of conflict.  Poverty has grown many folds and the whole population is suffering from a kind of dependency syndrome.  

After some initial delay in conducting this survey, we finally got visit visas for Afghanistan on July 2, 1999, left for Kabul on July 4, and returned to Pakistan on July 8, 1999.  On July 5, 1999 we had meetings with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Planning, Directorate of Rural Development, and also visited a community in Charasyab near Kabul.  

On July 6, 1999 the team met with the staff of Rehabilitation Agency for Development of Afghanistan  (RADA), Vice Chancellor and faculty members of Kabul University and staff of Norwegian Project Office– Rural Rehabilitation Association for Afghanistan (NPO/RRAA). 

July 7, 1999, we travelled to Jalalabad and met a community at Behsood in the evening. On July 8, 1999 we had a meeting with the community at Chaperhar and also met regional staff of NPO/RRAA Jalalabad Office before travelling back to Pakistan. 

AHRDO had made all the arrangements for the team's meeting with different government and non-government officials and the entire programme went well according to the schedule.  The purpose of the assessment was to thoroughly assess the working environment in Afghanistan and find out if the government is willing to collaborate in commencing Afghan Rural Support Programme and if the communities have the willingness and the needed potential to help themselves.  For this purpose, the team informed AHRDO well in advance that the team's schedule should include meetings with government ministers, different departments, NGOs and the communities around Kabul and Jalalabad.  The following report presents team's observations and recommendations in detail.