Topic 6: Personal security
Risk Matrix Example: Kabul 2001
Figure 6.3 illustrates that risks are not static. Due to a number of reasons risks may vary according to their potential impact and likelihood of occurrence. Figure 6.3 initially shows the situation existing in Kabul for international NGOs before the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. It suggests that the situation at that time was by no means ‘easy’ for the NGOs concerned as they operated within a framework of a severe Taliban administration. The diagram then demonstrates how many of these existing risks then move upwards and to the right as a result of the Northern Alliance and Western Nations Coalition forces attacks on the Taliban regime in the ensuing weeks. This situation led the international NGOs to rapidly withdraw their remaining staff from the country, as a number of the risks were entering into the ‘Unacceptable Risk’ zone.
Figure 6.2: The Risk Matrix: Kabul This Risk Matrix diagram has been prepared as a result of the author’s own experience of working with practitioners in Afghanistan. He had visited the country in May 2001 as part of an NGO drought assessment mission, and knew a number of international staff who worked there at the time, and who later withdrew in the months ahead. Source: http://www.torqaid.com |
