Previously, I discussed the Guinea Worm Ceasefire in Sudan. This ceasefire during the Sudanese civil war allowed public health programs to operate in areas of fighting. While temporary, the ceasefire improved the health of the civilian population and helped establish a non-governmental health infrastructure capable of reducing the disease’s prevalence. However, the Guinea Worm Ceasefire is just one example of health related cooperation between belligerents.
Government and NGO health workers in Afghanistan face great risks. You do not need to look far to find proof. Earlier this month a team of NGO health workers was executed by Taliban forces in the north of the country. However, for some health workers conducting polio vaccinations in Afghanistan, safety comes in the form of a one page letter. The letter is an endorsement of the antipolio campaign and is signed by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The letter, rarely discussed by the media or politicians, is the brainchild of Dr. Tahir Mir, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) head of the polio-eradication campaign in Afghanistan.
“In mid-2007, when Dr. Mir first asked for a Taliban letter of support, polio teams encountered growing difficulties in accessing insurgent-held areas.
At the time, some vaccinators were beaten up and their rosters snatched by local Taliban, because the teams’ frequent home visits and detailed documentation of who lives where aroused suspicions that the health workers were spying on militants. “But now, if they have any problems, they just show the Taliban letter, and it works,” says Khushhal Zaman, the WHO’s polio-eradication team leader for four eastern Afghan provinces, including Laghman.
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Dr. Mir says that, because of the rise in insurgent activities in the previously safe northern Afghanistan, vaccination workers now must carry the Taliban letter in northern provinces such as Kunduz and Baghlan, in addition to the south and the east.
In the insurgent-dominated areas, it’s the Taliban who select the local vaccination teams and their supervisors. These Taliban-appointed vaccinators then receive the vaccine and the documentation from government health offices, and report back the results once the round is over.”
Since the WHO is not allowed to talk to the Taliban direct (due to the United Nations blacklist), Dr. Mir used the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) as an intermediary. As per their neutrality mandate, ICRC maintains a strong relationship with the Taliban and even provides insurgents with first aid training and medical support.
The Taliban has provided a new letter of endorsement for every polio campaign, ten times in 2009 alone. While this letter is not a path to peace, it is a rare form of cooperation between the Afghan government, the IGO community, and the Taliban.
Christopher R. Albon is a political science Ph.D. specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
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