FRANCAISAfghanaid - History
1981-1989
-1981, United Kingdom: the invasion of Afghanistan by the Red Army in 1979 gives rise to the creation of numerous associations showing solidarity with the victims of the Soviet repression, such as the Afghanistan Refugees Relief Fund and the Afghan Relief Association in 1980, Afghan Relief in 1984 and the Afghan Refugees Information Network in 1986. Amongst them, Afghanaid is launched in 1981 as the Afghanistan Support Committee Charitable Trust. Its initial aim is only to heighten public awareness on Afghanistan by setting up an Information Centre.
-1983, United Kingdom: reorganised under the name Afghanaid, the Support Committee widens its action and starts providing relief to the needy Afghani. Though to begin with the organisation isn’t operational but finances other NGOs in the field.
-1984, Pakistan: Afghanaid opens offices in Peshawar where it starts up a tailoring programme for disabled Afghan refugees. Warned of the risk of famine in Afghanistan, the organisation also starts food hand outs in the refugee camps.
-1985, Afghanistan: Afghanaid starts working in Afghanistan and crosses in secret the border from Pakistan. The aim is to assist the Afghans within the country rather than to wait for their arrival in Pakistan after a long and difficult trek. Because transporting food from over the border costs too much, Afghanaid hands out cash directly to the needy populations in the mountains held by the rebels, which reinforces the capacity of resistance of the Mujaheddin. The organisation also tries for a time to enhance children education by developing basic textbooks for primary schools and by funding the salaries of the teachers.
-1986-1987, Pakistan: Afghanaid organises an ambulance service along the Afghan border to take to Peshawar the victims of the Red Army bombings.
-1988-1992, Afghanistan: so as to encourage the return of food self-sufficiency, Afghanaid stops its “ cash for food ” programmes and sets up farming projects, for example in the regions held by the Mujaheddin of Ahmed Shah Massoud. With a budget worth approximately four million euros in 1988, the organisation becomes the sixth biggest operational NGO in the country, to such an extent that it finances CARE to hand out blankets to the poor. But the withdrawal of the Red Army in 1989, the fall of the communist regime, and the entry of the rebels in Kabul in 1992 leads to a certain demobilisation of the international community and institutional financial backers.
