Skip to main content

Commentary: Elegy for heroes slain in Afghanistan

  • Story Highlights
  • 5 International Rescue Committee workers ambushed en route to Kabul; four killed
  • IRC president talks of their dedication, devotion to helping others
  • "The unarmed who fight gunmen with healthcare, job training" are now targets
  • Efforts suspended but, "We owe it to the memory of our four colleagues to ... carry on"
  • Next Article in World »
By George Rupp
Special to CNN
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The call I dread awakened me at 4 a.m. Five International Rescue Committee colleagues, traveling in a car en route to Kabul, had been ambushed by gunmen. Four were killed, and the fifth was critically injured.

George Rupp is president of the IRC, which has suspended humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan.

Nicole Dial, left, helped child soldiers and land-mine victims; Jackie Kirk promoted education in crisis areas.

After notifying their families, I immediately traveled to Afghanistan to meet with our shattered staff and evaluate our next steps after suspending our programs.

Who were these people, and what were they doing in the line of fire?

Jackie Kirk, 40, had worked for the IRC since 2004. She lived in Montreal with her husband but telecommuted to our headquarters in New York when she was not on the road to places like Pakistan, Liberia and Sudan.

She was an expert on education in crisis areas, especially Afghanistan, where 72 percent of the people are illiterate.

Nicole Dial, 30, joined the IRC's Kabul team in May. In the eight years since she graduated from the London School of Economics, she had worked on programs to help child soldiers and land-mine victims.

She was an expert on children in armed conflict and had served in Indonesia before coming to Afghanistan, where she supported schooling for marginalized populations, especially girls and women.

Shirley Case, 30, was a Canadian from British Columbia who started in June. An experienced relief worker who had served in Chad, Nigeria and Indonesia, she was devoting her energies to helping children with disabilities get an education.

There are 196,000 children with disabilities in Afghanistan, and 64 percent of them have no access to school.

Mohammad Aimal was a 25-year-old driver, part of our Kabul-based team who joined us when he was 19. He is survived by his wife and 3-year-old son. His fellow driver, Zabiullah, is being treated for gunshot wounds to the head.

Mohammed Aimal and Zabiullah have escorted me in my four trips to Afghanistan. They and their 600 Afghan co-workers are partners with a handful of IRC expatriate staff in supporting relief and development projects -- while always keeping one eye out to avoid dangerous situations.

We -- the unarmed who try to fight gunmen with the weapons of health care, books, job training and child protection -- have become targets.

We abide by the principle that humanitarian aid must be provided on an impartial basis to all civilians in need regardless of race, creed, nationality or political belief. And we strive to reinforce this principle through the transparency of our activities and strong ties to local communities.

But now we face a pressing security challenge that must be overcome if we are to do our urgently needed work and sustain the gains that the people of Afghanistan and the international community have achieved.

These educators and their driver, like so many others, were heroes in their dedication to their work, and like all IRC staff, they closely followed our extensive security precautions.

We have rigorous procedures to which we adhere in all our international operations. At the same time, Afghanistan has experienced a upsurge in violence over the past two years that threatens our ability to assist vulnerable people.

The IRC has worked in Afghanistan for 20 years. Today, I don't know how much longer our organization can stay. Many of our staff members are former refugees who have fled before but returned to Afghanistan to rebuild their country. I hope they are not forced to flee again.

We owe it to the memory of our four colleagues to do what we can to carry on.

George Rupp is the president of the International Rescue Committee.

All About International Rescue CommitteeAfghanistanAfghanistan WarKabul

  • E-mail
  • Save
  • Print