KABUL (TCA) — A Swedish aid group says it has closed dozens of health centers it was operating in Afghanistan following threats by the Taliban, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan reported on July 17.
Khalid Fahim, a program director for the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which runs several aid projects, told RFE/RL that the charity had closed 42 health centers in the central province of Maidan Wardak.
Mohammad Nadir Nadiry, the head of the main hospital in the province, said all clinics in the province had been closed because “health workers are frightened.”
Fahim said the decision followed a threat by the Taliban that came in response to a deadly night raid carried out by Afghan forces on a Swedish-run clinic that was treating Taliban fighters.
Human Rights Watch criticized Afghan special operations forces who, the group said, entered the clinic in Dai Mirdad district on the night of July 8-9, detaining staff and family members accompanying patients.
The rights group said Afghan forces “executed” a family caregiver, a lab worker, a guard, and another person caring for a patient.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense said the incident will be investigated, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said in a statement that “due to this closure, an estimated 5,700 patients are affected on a daily basis”.
The closure of the health facilities denying people to receive medical treatment and health services is an obvious violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, SCA country director Sonny Mansson said.
“We demand immediate reopening of all health facilities for the people and we strongly urge all parties involved in conflict to refrain from such actions which deliberately puts civilian lives at risk,” he said.
The Swedish charity has been operating in Afghanistan for decades.
