ABSTRACT
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) developed throughout the Cold War, because the humanitarian norm gained ground in international relations. Their growth intensified at the end of the 1980s, because the end of the Cold War enabled non-state actors to promote humanitarian action to an unprecedented level. The 'institutionalist' view explained more consistently the expansion of humanitarian NGOs. The steady growth of humanitarianism also explains why the Afghan NGO community expanded before the Cold War ended. Many researchers have studied the recent growth of humanitarian action and described the expanded international humanitarian system; some have also examined how the mandates of aid agencies have increased in the 1990s and how humanitarian actors carry out tasks that go beyond their traditional roles. The Afghan humanitarian sphere highlights both the slow erosion and the final collapse of the UN/NGO hierarchy. Owing to the rapid growth of humanitarian NGOs in the 1980s and 1990s, the international NGO community has already been polarized.
