Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

The Afghan Refugee Crisis

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The Afghan Refugee Crisis

During a recent visit to Islamabad, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres urged Pakistan to review its Afghan refugee repatriation deadline of December 2015. While meeting Antonio Guterres in the Prime Minister house in Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said “Pakistan took care of Afghan refugees as a sacred duty and their return with dignity was the government’s priority”. Earlier, after the attack on Army Public School by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claimed the lives of more than 120 students, Pakistan deported more than 31,000 Afghans as a security precaution, and set December 31, 2015 as deadline for complete repatriation of Afghan refugees. It’s reported that around 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees reside in Pakistan, mainly in urban areas. Given the worsening economic and security condition in Afghanistan and no state preparations for accommodation of those returning, the question is that what will happen to the Afghan refugees after they return back home?

Three decades of war in Afghanistan forced more than 6 million Afghans to flee the country, mainly to neighboring Iran and Pakistan. After the fall of Taliban, the Afghan interim government called on Afghan refugees to return back home. The UNHCR reports that “since 2002, more than 5.8 million Afghan refugees have returned home, of whom 4.7 million were assisted by UNHCR, representing 20 per cent of Afghanistan’s population.” Yet, more than a decade after fall of the Taliban and establishment of the new political system in Afghanistan, the country still has more than 3 million refugees worldwide. ] Hussain Alemi Balkhi, the minister of Refugees and Repatriation has urged other countries not to forcefully repatriate Afghan refugees as Afghanistan “is not ready” for their accommodation. Mr. Balkhi says that as conditions were getting better off in 2011, several Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been signed with different European countries on repatriation of Afghan refugees, excluding repatriation of women and children.  However, with the worsening security and withdrawal of NATO combat troops from Afghanistan, the situation has further deteriorated forcing more Afghan citizens to leave the country in search of protection and employment. This is while the Afghan government is already struggling in repatriation and settlement of returning refugees. While the Afghan government is not ready to take in and accommodate refugees, mass repatriation of refugees can create a chaotic situation in the country. Recently, a number of countries including Norway, Greece and Turkey have deported Afghan refugees. Most of those deported have lost all their belongings in Afghanistan and have nowhere to return to. In addition, the refugees face threats in their home provinces as well. Therefore, the government should redouble its efforts and urge all host countries not to forcefully repatriate Afghan refugees, especially women and children.

With the withdrawal of NATO combat forces by the end of 2014 and the inevitable decline in the international financial aid, the Afghan government began to face serious economic and financial challenges. The number of refugees seeking shelter abroad has been exponentially growing and people fleeing the country due to lack of security and high rate of employment. In order to prevent people from leaving the country, the national unity government needs to boost employment by improving security and encouraging foreign aid.

The Afghan government needs to promote and protect of rights and dignity of Afghan citizens including Afghan refugees residing in other countries. It is reported that Afghans are actively engaged in the war in Syria both for and against Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad. The Afghan government has so far failed to prevent Afghans from being used as proxy fighters or joining extremist groups like the Islamic State. Afghans engaging in war in Syria will have impacts inside Afghanistan as it can shatter the already weakened Afghan sectarian tolerance and national harmony. The government has to engage in active diplomatic efforts to prevent Afghans from joining the Islamist groups or fighting for Al-Assad’s government.

Afghan refugees in Pakistan have been severely affected from security developments in Pakistan and the country’s operations against the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan. Last year, the Pakistani military initiated the operation Zarb-e-Azb in order to eliminate terrorist shelters in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas which borders Afghanistan. The operation caused thousands of people to leave their homes and flee to other parts of Pakistan or cross the border to Afghanistan. It has been reported that extremist elements have fled to Afghanistan by covering themselves as refugees. This has further deteriorated insecurity in Afghanistan. The government needs to boost its control on cross-border traffic, and crackdown on those who are members of terrorist organizations.  In order to encourage the refugees to return back home, the government of Afghanistan in collaboration with the international community and the UNHCR should provide various employment and accommodation alternatives such as temporary shelters, permanent resettlement and better employment. So far, the refugees who have returned back in the country complain from lack of jobs and employment. Many of Afghan refugees who returned back during last fourteen years have been forced to leave the country again as they have not been provided jobs and accommodation facilities. Extensive unemployment and poverty is a huge problem in Afghanistan, and the government can not sort it out on its own. Therefore, seeking assistance from the international community is fundamentally needed.  With Afghan refugee crisis at its peak, thousands of Afghan refugees are currently waiting in refugee camps in Indonesia, Turkey and elsewhere to be resettled into third countries. The government should request the UNHCR to support these refugees and help in their resettlement. In 2014, dozens of Afghan refugees protested in front of UNHCR office in Turkey for a month complaining that the UNHCR was not reviewing their asylum cases. The Afghan government or the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation failed to help those refugees in a meaningful way.  The Afghan government and the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation should halt repatriation of refugees until the situation is improved and the country is prepared for taking in and settling the refugees. It is the obligation of the Afghan government to protect rights of all Afghan citizens including refugees who are in search of shelter in other countries. The government should work closely with the UNHCR and the relevant countries to resettle Afghan refugees and improve the status of Afghan refugees around the world.

 

 

Ewaz Ali Bahrami is the newly emerging writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at outlookafghanistan@gmai.com

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