To Kandahar and back: Journey of a lifetime

A young SURGE Advisor narrates her first-hand account of deployment to Afghanistan

By Tilini Subodha Kuruppu Arachchige

A SURGE deployment took Tilini Subodha Kuruppu Arachchige on a journey through Afghanistan, from Kabul to Kandahar. Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Sayeed Farhad Zalmai

I was fortunate to join a United Nations Inter-Agency mission to Kandahar during my SURGE deployment to Afghanistan in November last year. UNDP is ‘staying to deliver’ with the rest of the United Nations to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover. Our goal was to meet the de-facto authorities and apprise them of UNDP’s ongoing work and connect with other stakeholders, like women leaders, for setting up new programs. We boarded a United Nations Humanitarian Air Service flight from Kabul and kicked off our three-day mission.

Entrepreneurial spirit

While in Kandahar, two meetings really stuck with me. One was with a group of female entrepreneurs who are working hard to stay afloat in challenging times. Their resilience and motivation to sustain their hard-earned space in the economy was extremely inspiring. UNDP in partnership with the European Union (EU) has launched a US$16.9 million recovery program to safeguard the livelihoods and businesses of Afghans including such women. This year alone, the country office aims to support more than 50,000 women-led micro, small and medium enterprises.

The UNDP SURGE team met with women entrepreneurs, among others, who work hard to sustain their place in the Afghan economy. For Tilini, the deployment was ‘a once-in-a-lifetime experience’. Photos: UNDP Afghanistan/Sayeed Farhad Zalmai

The second was a visit to a spectacular building that was initially planned as a hotel but later transformed into a hospital. “I wanted to fulfill my father’s wish of serving the community,” said Younus Lala, the owner. The health sector has been particularly impacted and many workers had not been paid for months. As a stopgap arrangement, UNDP took over the system of paying salaries to more than 26,000 doctors, nurses and other workers, including 7,300 women, to keep the healthcare facilities operational.

During these two engagements, I saw the resilience of the people who continue to be hopeful and support each other during these incredibly challenging times.

Despite challenging circumstances, incredible resilience was evident in Afghan people of all ages throughout the deployment. Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Sayeed Farhad Zalmai

The road less traveled

One of our colleagues got COVID, which meant that we could not take the flight back to Kabul. The security team started preparing for us to get back by road — a more than 300-mile journey not attempted by UN staff in over 20 years!

A convoy of six UN vehicles guarded by soldiers from the de-facto authorities hit the road at the break of dawn the following day. The plan was to make our way to Kabul before the sunset. Our guards were positioned in the back of a pick-up truck, guns ready in case of any untoward incident. We began our 13-hour journey on unfamiliar roads and through endless checkpoints.

Unable to fly after a colleague tested positive for COVID-19, the team drove 13 hours from Kandahar to Kabul through dangerous terrain. Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Sayeed Farhad Zalmai

We were asked to be careful of unexploded ordnance, the reality of which became apparent as we had to drive over crevasses where previous explosions had done their damage. We only stopped so that our escorts could observe their prayers. Curious onlookers greeted our convoy as we made our way through the Afghan countryside. The severity of the drought was apparent with dried-up waterways and dusty roads. We all heaved a sigh of relief upon reaching our compound in Kabul.

Curious onlookers greeted the UN convoy, while the severity of drought and its impacts were impossible to ignore. Photos: UNDP Afghanistan/ Sayeed Farhad Zalmai

SURGE experience: A once in a lifetime opportunity

Since the shift in power last August, the amount of work accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. More than 70,000 people have been supported with temporary employment, with equal pay for women and men. Just in Herat, another 105,000 people, half of them women from 15,000 farming families, have benefitted from a cash-for-work program that will also help improve irrigation in the city.

I was part of the Crisis Bureau team facilitating SURGE deployments to the country office. Our work entailed bringing in trained personnel to boost local capacity for implementing crisis response programs. By February this year, 62 SURGE Advisors had been deployed to Afghanistan!

SURGE teams and their quick responses are critical to respond to crises worldwide. The Afghanistan operation is UNDP’s largest SURGE response to date. Photo: UNDP Afghanistan/Sayeed Farhad Zalmai

When we started out back in September, commercial flights had ceased operations to the country. We did not have any established processes. Visa, logistics, even third-country transit requirements were constantly changing. It was incredible to see the organization come together as one. SURGE advisors were released even from countries that are experiencing crisis themselves.

My deployment was part of the ‘SURGE Experience’ initiative, where young professionals are deployed to crisis zones with an aim to cultivate UNDP’s next generation of crisis leaders. To be in Afghanistan at such a time, working alongside the incredible country staff, and being in the presence of UN leadership, who are all working tirelessly to serve the people of the country, was truly a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience.