Uruzgan province is located in the central part of Afghanistan and is divided into five districts. It borders Daikundi, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar and Helmand. The Kandahar-Uruzgan highway runs through the districts of Chora and Tarinkot. In some districts of the province, like Khas Uruzgan, Hazaras have lived in self-governed enclaves under local agreements with the Taliban.
Throughout 2018, Taliban militants were active in the province. They expanded their operations to areas which until then had been spared, like the district of Khas Uruzgan. Sources also reported activity of ISKP in the province, particularly in Chora district.
Four districts of Uruzgan province are categorised by LWJ as contested and one is categorised as under Taliban control.
According to GIM, 220 incidents related to insurgents were reported in the period of January 2018 – February 2019 (average of 3.7 incidents per week).
Examples of incidents include intense battles between local Hazara militia and the Taliban. The fighting, accounting for many casualties and internally displaced people, mostly among the Hazara civilian population, went on almost one month until late November 2018. There are also reports of travellers being kidnapped and later killed by the Taliban. Ongoing military operations in order to clear the Kandahar-Uruzgan highway from Taliban insurgents were reported in February 2019.
UNAMA documented 173 civilian casualties (46 deaths and 127 injured) in 2018, representing 41 civilian victims per 100 000 inhabitants. This is a decrease of 70 % compared to 2017. The leading causes for the civilian casualties were ground engagements, followed by (non-suicide) IEDs and aerial attacks.
In the period 1 January 2018 – 28 February 2019, 8 620 persons were displaced from the province of Uruzgan, the majority within the province itself.
In the map depicting conflict severity in 2018, UNOCHA places the capital district of Tirinkot in the highest category and the districts of Dehrawud, Chora and Khas Uruzgan in the second highest category. The remaining districts fall in the lower categories.
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| Looking at the indicators, it can be concluded that indiscriminate violence is taking place in the province of Uruzgan, however not at a high level and, accordingly, a higher level of individual elements is required in order to show substantial grounds for believing that a civilian, returned to the territory, would face a real risk of serious harm within the meaning of Article 15(c) QD. |
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