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Where do Afghanistan’s refugees go once they're out of the country?

AP Photo/uncredited photographer/The Conversation

Images of thousands of Afghans desperately trying to flee their country following a hasty U.S. withdrawal have provoked an international outcry.

As of Aug. 22, 2021, some 6,000 U.S. troops were working to evacuate U.S. military, American citizens and Afghans who are approved for Special Immigrant Visas. SIVs are a special program to protect Afghans who risked their lives working for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Germany, France, Italy and the U.K. are conducting smaller evacuation efforts for their nationals and some Afghans.

The pace of these poorly planned evacuations has been slow. They are taking place amid chaos in Kabul, where crowds are being confronted by violence from members of the now-ruling Taliban and U.S. forces and facing checkpoints that are near-impossible to pass.

Shaharzad Akbar, who leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, called the situation "failure upon failure."

As a scholar specializing in forcible displacement and refugees, I see this harrowing scene unfolding within a broader context of Afghanistan's long-standing displacement crisis. This includes an unequal sharing of refugees between the developed world and economically disadvantaged countries.

Chart: The Conversation, CC-BY-ND Source: UNHCR

A muted US role

The U.S. Refugee Act of 1980 standardized the procedures for admitting refugees – people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution – and put in place a rigorous vetting process. But over the past 40 years, U.S. acceptance rates for refugees worldwide have fallen significantly – from 200,000 admitted in 1980 to less than 50,000 in 2019.

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. admitted more than 20,000 Afghan refugees – an average of roughly 1,000 per year. But during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, just 11,800 refugees from around the world settled in the U.S. – among them were only 495 Afghan Special Immigrant Visa recipients. That number seems tiny compared to the approximately 20,000 Afghans who are currently in the pipeline waiting for a SIV and the additional 70,000 Afghans — including applicants and their immediate family members — who are eligible to apply.

Europe hosts few Afghan refugees

For decades, Afghans have also migrated or fled to Europe. Between 2015-2016, 300,000 of them arrived on the continent. They were the second-largest group of refugees and asylum-seekers after Syrians. Asylum seekers are people seeking refugee status, but whose claim has yet to be evaluated.

The Afghan population across the European continent remains small and unevenly distributed. Up until the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, many Afghans were facing deportations. Germany is the largest European host, followed by Austria, France and Sweden.

For the first three months of 2021 about 7,000 Afghans were granted permanent or temporary legal status in the European Union. They are distributed between Greece, France, Germany and Italy, with smaller Afghan contingents in other EU states.

Australia – based on its 2016 census – has approximately 47,000 Afghans who are permanent residents, some of whom began arriving as early as 1979. Approximately another 4,200 Afghans have received temporary protected status.

Displaced within Afghanistan

This still leaves an enormous number of Afghans who are displaced without a permanent home. More than half a million have already been displaced by the violence so far in 2021 according to the U.N. refugee agency. Some 80% of nearly a quarter of a million Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children.

As of 2021 and prior to the current crisis, at least 3.5 million Afghans remained uprooted within Afghanistan because of violence, political unrest, poverty, climate crisis and lack of economic opportunity.

Afghan refugees enter into Pakistan through a border crossing point in Chaman while a Pakistani army soldier stands guard.AP Photo/uncredited photographer

Afghan refugees in Pakistan

The vast majority of Afghan refugees do not settle in the West.

Pakistan, which shares a 1,640-mile land border with Afghanistan, has long absorbed the largest number of Afghan refugees even though it is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol. Within two years of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, following the conflict ignited by the rise of the Mujahideen, 1.5 million Afghans had become refugees. By 1986, nearly five million Afghans had fled to Pakistan and Iran.

Since March 2002, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, had repatriated nearly 3.2 million Afghans, but in April 2021, the United Nations reported that more than 1.4 million Afghan refugees remained in Pakistan due to ongoing violence, unemployment and political turbulence in Afghanistan.

Iran also remains a significant host for Afghans, with nearly 800,000 registered refugees and at least two million more who are unregistered. Smaller numbers of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers are in India (15,689), Indonesia (7,692) and Malaysia (2,478).

Turkey – the world's largest refugee host, with over 3.8 million registered Syrian refugees – has 980 registered Afghan refugees and 116,000 Afghan asylum-seekers.

Despite the presence of the Taliban, a group of protesters march with Afghan flags during the country's Independence Day rally in Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 19, 2021Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

As it stands today

The latest figures from the AP show that more than 47,000 Afghan civilians and at least 66,000 Afghan military and police forces have died in the 20-year-old Afghanistan war

The security situation in the country had been deteriorating in recent years. According to Brown University's Cost of War Project, an increasing numbers of Afghans have been killed as a result of crossfire, improvised explosive devices, assassinations by militant groups including the Taliban, night raids by U.S. and NATO forces and U.S.-led airstrikes.

Even prior to the Taliban takeover of Kabul, civilian casualties had risen by 29% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. A U.N. report from July 26, 2021 found a 37% increase in the number of women killed and injured, and a 23% increase in child casualties compared with the first quarter of 2020.

With the Taliban takeover of Kabul, there is a growing concern for the safety of Afghanistan's women and girls, ethnic minorities, journalists, government workers, educators and human rights activists. Many Afghans desperate to leave remain outside Kabul and far from any airport.

U.S. evacuations will likely end once all Americans are out of Afghanistan. A few other western countries have committed to taking in small numbers of refugees, including Canada (20,000) and the U.K. (20,000 over 5 years).

Still, adoption of hard-line policies and anti-refugee sentiments across much of Europe means that relatively few Afghans will find sanctuary on the continent. Austria and Switzerland have already refused to take in large numbers of Afghans. Turkey, already straining with refugees, said it does not want to become "Europe's refugee warehouse."

Other countries committing to take in Afghans temporarily in small numbers include Albania, Qatar, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. Uganda, which already hosts 1.5 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan, has also agreed to take in 2,000 Afghans temporarily.

Ultimately, most Afghans able to leave the country will do so not in an aircraft, but on foot into Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan, already strained by its own economic and political struggles, will once again likely be the largest host for the most recently displaced Afghans.

But given that border crossings in the region are difficult and dangerous, the vast majority of uprooted Afghans will remain within Afghanistan's borders. Their considerable humanitarian needs, economic and political challenges, security concerns and resistance to the Taliban will shape the next chapter of the country's history.


Tazreena Sajjad is a Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security at the American University School of International Service as well as a pro-bono advisor for Refugee Solidarity Network (RSN).

This article first appeared on The Conversation. You can read it here.



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Heroes

Afghan translator who saved the lives of five American troops becomes a U.S. citizen

USCIS/Twitter

For some people, every day is Independence Day. For Janis Shinwari, this will be his first 4th of July as an American citizen. And boy, he earned it.

"If I was in Afghanistan—if I didn't come here, I wouldn't be alive now. I would be dead." Shinwari told CNN Heroes in 2018. Shinwari risked his life for nine years serving as a translator for U.S. forces in his native country of Afghanistan. He risked his life everyday knowing that should he be caught by the Taliban, the consequences would be severe. "If the Taliban catch you, they will torture you in front of your kids and families and make a film of you." Shinwari said. "Then [they'll] send it to other translators as a warning message to stop working with the American forces."

But his bravery didn't stop there. Just ask Captain Matt Zeller. During a routine patrol near the small village of Waghez, Zeller's unit was attacked by the Taliban. They were both out numbered and out gunned. Zeller found himself in a ditch after losing consciousness from a mortar explosion. As he slowly started gaining back his consciousness, he accepted the reality that he was probably going lose his life. He had no idea how close he really was. Unbeknownst to him, there were two Taliban fighters approaching him. Then gun fire came from the bushes killing them both. The blasts came from the gun of Janis Shinwari.

"I was going to make sort of peace with my fate and I was going to go out fighting," Zeller told CNN. That was when he found Shinwari standing above him uttering the words, "I am Janis and I am one of your translators. You are not safe." Even though they had just met days prior, it was the beginning of an unbreakable bond. "Since that time, we become even closer than brothers," Shinwari explained to CNN.

After the incident, the Taliban put Shinwari on a hit list along with other translators working with the United States military. He reached out to Zeller with hopes of getting a visa to be able to come to America. Shinwari, with a bounty on his head, was hoping the process would take months, but it took years instead. It was not for lack of effort from the man who's life he saved. Zeller knew he owed Shinwari his life and was determined to help get him to the United States.

"I just basically asked anyone who would listen, 'Will you help me? I owe this person my life. I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I will cash in and call in whatever favor. I will owe whatever it is that I need to owe. Tell me what it is that I need to do to get you to help me,'" Zeller told CNN. Then in 2013 it happened. Janis Shinwari obtained a visa and his family were finally headed to America.

As soon as Shinwari and his family arrived in America, the country they now call home, Zeller helped them find a car, a job and even started a GoFundMe page that raised over $35,000 to make sure their transition to the U.S. was a smooth one. But Shinwari couldn't stop thinking about the other translators back in Afghanistan putting their lives on the line for U.S. soldiers.

The two men with an inseparable bond started No One Left Behind, which is a non-profit to help get translators working for the U.S. military a safe haven in America. "We are happy. But I'm not happy about my coworkers, about my brothers and sisters that served the US government in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they are still left behind," Shinwari said. "I will fight for them, to get them here. And we will not stop fighting. It doesn't matter how long does it take. But I will fight for them."

So far the group has come to the aid of over 5,000 translators and their families to navigate the visa process to the United States. They offer support including permanent housing, furniture, employment and language skills. Shinwari adds, "I will not stop fighting until I get the last translator what's left behind. I promise them that I will never forget about my brothers and sisters that they are still left behind in Iraq and Afghanistan."

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What if the media covered these 5 stories like the MOAB?

The Mother of All Bombs has, predictably, become the mother of all news stories.

Photo by Department of Defense via Getty Images.

While we don't yet know how the decision was made, what was accomplished, or how many enemy combatants — or civilians — were killed, we know the one thing that matters above all else: We dropped a really, really big bomb today, and kaboom.

The U.S. military's decision to use the most powerful ordnance in its arsenal is a legitimately big deal.

Still, if there's one thing guaranteed to stoke the embers of 24/7 cable news coverage, it's setting off a massive explosion in a foreign country — no matter how long we've already been blowing things up in said country.

And it really doesn't help that the bomb has a cute nickname.

Northwest Florida Daily News File Photo, via AP.

With a moniker like the Mother of All Bombs, or MOAB, it's no wonder we're talking about it to the exclusion of pretty much everything else happening in the world. How can health care funding, cuts to women's health, and a potential foreign espionage racket compete with a humongous explosive device that also happens to be a member of your family?  

There's a lot going on today that shouldn't be drowned out — stories I've taken the liberty of rebranding here so that, like the giant bomb, they get as much attention as humanly possible.

1. The Father of All Obamacare Funding Debates.

Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images.

While the U.S. military was busy unleashing mayhem in the Afghan desert, President Trump was initiating the FOAOFD by threatening to eliminate a key program that provides federal subsidies to insurers, helping them cover low-income customers, unless the Democrats negotiate with him on an Obamacare replacement plan.

It could be argued this isn't as exciting as kicking up the biggest fire-and-dust cloud since Nagasaki. Still, a lot of poor people could have trouble seeing the doctor if he follows through, which, you know, eesh.

2. The Brother-in-Law of All Abortion Restrictions.

Photo by Stephanie Ott/Picture Alliance/DPA/AP Images.

President Trump signed the BILOAAR into law today. While incapable of penetrating and obliterating subterranean concrete bunkers, the BILOAAR does allow states to deny funds to organizations that provide contraceptive and reproductive health services, which, hey, is still pretty destructive!

3. The Sister's Ex-Boyfriend of All Turkish Constitutional Referenda.

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

The SEBOATCR, which goes to a vote Sunday, would overhaul Turkey's constitution, granting President Erdogan the power to appoint his own cabinet officials and dozens of judges, to make sweeping changes without legislative approval, and to dissolve parliament.

Many Turks aren't convinced the vote will be fair, anticipating shenanigans from Erdogan's camp, which has been purging officials since a failed coup last July. If it goes through, many opponents fear the changes will mark the country's transition from kind-of-maybe-dictatorship to full-on dictatorship.

Despite the fact that the referendum is not an 11-ton exploding metal tube, Turkey is a NATO ally, as well as one of the main power brokers in the ongoing Syrian civil war, so the vote could be fairly important.

4. The First Cousin Once Removed of All Potentially Shocking Developments in the Russia Investigation.

Russians. Photo by Michael Klimentyev/Getty Images.

An anonymous source told The Guardian that U.S. investigators now have "specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion" between members of the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

The FCOROAPSDITRI, as it's come to be known, could open the door to criminal prosecutions of associates of the president of the United States, which could turn out to be almost as consequential as pushing a bomb the size of a couple of pick-up trucks out of a plane.

5. The Grandmother's Friend Who Always Comes to Holidays and Whose Name You Definitely Should Know by Now but Don't of All New Money Streams for Programs That Enrich the Lives of Girls of Color.

Warren Buffett. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

There's even some good non-bomb news! And it comes in the form of the GFWACTHAWNYDSKBNBDOANMSFPTETLOGOC.

Two of Warren Buffett's children pledged $90 million to organizations that serve girls of color, allowing them unprecedented flexibility with the funds and freedom to determine their own needs.

In one fell swoop — and with little fanfare — the Buffetts managed to strike a blow for justice and promote equality without immolating any human beings.

Interested now, America?

That's what I thought.

Photo via Eglin Air Force Base via AP.

Boom.

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Because Passover is a refugee story, one synagogue invited refugees to Seder.

Rabbi Michael Knopf of Temple Beth-El in Richmond, Virginia, is marveling at the length of his to-do list for Tuesday's Passover Seder.

Photo via iStock.

The food still has to be cooked, the Haggadahs proofread, and volunteers wrangled.

"[It's] a little bit crazy, but in a good way," Knopf says.

His stress is understandable. This year, Beth-El is preparing to host over 100 congregants and some special first-time guests: about 50 refugees, most from Afghanistan.

The Seder, first reported by WWBT-12 Richmond, is the congregation's attempt to connect the plight of the millions of refugees fleeing violence and chaos around the world with the central themes of the Passover story, which commemorates the biblical account of the Jewish people's exodus from Egypt.

"Our foundational story, which is the one we celebrate on Passover, is a refugee story," Knopf explains.

Knopf is one of a growing number of American Jewish leaders who are putting refugee stories front and center at their Seders this year.

Photo by Temple Beth-El.

The Passover narrative, which tells the story of a people fleeing slavery under an oppressive regime, strikes a particularly timely chord with Jews who see themes of perseverance in the face of persecution — and an obligation to help those suffering under it in the present — as central not just to their history, but their religious narrative as well.

In 2016, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) began issuing a Haggadah supplement that draws an explicit parallel between the biblical exodus and the global refugee crisis. The addition includes new prayers and readings, as well as four personal stories of individuals who fled persecution in their home countries. Knopf plans to incorporate the supplement into Beth-El's Seder.

“[This is] a really critical moment for the Jewish community to really step up and say with a loud voice that we support welcoming refugees, that we know the dire consequences of shutting the doors of our country to refugees, and we won’t stand for that happening again," says Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer, HIAS education director and author of the supplement.

Over 300 congregations have signed up for HIAS' Welcome Campaign, joining a statement of support for admitting more refugees into the United States.  

Temple Beth-El is going one step further by inviting refugees to the Seder table.

"This is the first time that we’ve had a faith community say, ‘We are going to raise money to pay for a sit-down dinner for refugees and really welcome them in a very hospitable and really special way," says Kate Ayers, executive director of ReEstablish Richmond, a local refugee aid organization that is co-sponsoring the event with the synagogue.

ReEstablish Richmond's "Taste of Afghanistan" dinner in 2016, where Afghan immigrants shared their cooking with locals and volunteers. Photo by ReEstablish Richmond/Facebook.

About 400 refugees were resettled in Richmond in 2016. Most worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, while others hail from Iraq, Sudan, Bhutan, Burma, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A few of the guests have volunteered to share their personal stories at the dinner.  

One of the scheduled speakers — Abdul Jalal Hashimi, an Afghan translator whose family was repeatedly threatened for his decision to assist American soldiers — told the synagogue's newsletter that he hopes the event will "help people understand each other."

Abdul Jalal Hashimi. Photo by ReEstablish Richmond/Facebook.

The organizers hope to arrange the seating to help the newcomers — many who were doctors and engineers back home — get to know local professionals in their field, as most are still working survival jobs in Richmond.

Since many of the refugees have never met a Jewish person or attended a Passover celebration before, Ayers went family-to-family to explain the significance.

"The way that I was able to connect it the most was just to explain that this is a dinner that is a holiday for the Jewish community, and it’s a holiday where they remember when they as a people had to escape for their life because of persecution, and they want to welcome you as someone who’s experienced that same thing," she says.

Knopf hopes the meal will also be a "holy"  experience for his congregants, many of whom may have never met a Muslim person or a refugee.

ReEstablish Richmond volunteers help recently arrived refugees navigate the Richmond bus system. Photo by ReEstablish Richmond/Facebook.

"Just to see the world expand for people is really powerful," Knopf says.

While he braced for a potential backlash, he says he's received virtually no pushback from his politically diverse congregation. That, he hopes, is a sign that the message of the holiday — and the moment — is resonating.

"There’s a saying in Judaism that a little light dispels a lot of darkness," Knopf says. "So even though we’re just one little community in one little city, I think we’re doing a lot of illuminating for at least this group of people."

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