Parts of this article (those related to 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan) need to be updated.(August 2021) |
Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee their country as a result of wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first major wave of internal displacement and international migration to neighboring Iran and Pakistan; smaller numbers also went to India [1] or to countries of the former Soviet Union. Between 1979 and 1992, more than 20% of Afghanistan's population fled the country as refugees. [2] Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, many returned to Afghanistan, [3] however many Afghans were again forced to flee during the civil war in the 90s. Over 6 million Afghan refugees were residing in Iran and Pakistan by 2000. [4] Most refugees returned to Afghanistan following the 2001 United States invasion and overthrow of the Taliban regime. [5] [6] [7] Between 2002 and 2012, 5.7 million refugees returned to Afghanistan, increasing the country's population by 25%. [8]
Afghanistan is one of the largest refugee-producing countries in the world. [9] As of 2021, there are 2.7 million Afghan refugees, which is the third largest refugee group after Syrian and Venezuelan refugees. [10]
Some countries that were part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) established special programs to allow thousands of Afghans to resettle in North America or Europe. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] As stateless refugees or asylum seekers, they are protected by the well-established non-refoulement principle and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. They receive the maximum government benefits and protections in countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. [16] [17] For example, those that receive green cards under 8 U.S.C. § 1159 can immediately become "non-citizen nationals of the United States" pursuant to , without needing to meet the requirements of . [18] This allows them to travel with distinct United States passports. [19] Australia provides a similar benefit to admitted refugees.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are over five million internally displaced people in Afghanistan as of late 2021. [7] Military actions and violence by the warring factions usually play a major part in the displacement, although there are also reasons of major natural disasters. [20] The Soviet invasion caused approximately 2 million Afghans to be internally displaced, mostly from rural areas into urban areas. [20] The Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) caused a new wave of internal displacement, with many citizens moving to northern areas in order to avoid the Taliban totalitarianism. [20] Afghanistan has long suffered from insecurity and conflict, which has led to an increase in internal displacement. [21] [22]
Native people of Afghanistan and their children lawfully reside in at least 96 countries around the world. [23] [24] About three in four Afghans have gone through internal and/or external displacement in their life. [20] Unlike in certain other countries, all admitted refugees and those granted asylum in the United States are statutorily eligible for permanent residency (green card) and then U.S. nationality or U.S. citizenship. [18] All of their children automatically become Americans if they fulfill all of the requirements of , or . [25] This extends their privileges, and gives all of them additional international protection against any unlawful threat or harm. [26]
Approximately 1,438,432 registered Afghan refugees and asylum seekers temporarily reside in Pakistan under the care and protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). [27] [28] [23] [29] [30] [31] Of these, 58.1% reside and work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22.8% in Balochistan, 11.7% in Punjab, 4.6% in Sindh, 2.4% in the capital Islamabad and 0.3% in Azad Kashmir. [5] [30] Most were born and raised in Pakistan in the last four decades but are considered citizens of Afghanistan. [32] [5] They are free to return to Afghanistan under a voluntary repatriation program or move to any other country of the world and be firmly resettled there.
Since 2002, around 4.4 million Afghan citizens have been repatriated through the UNHCR from Pakistan to Afghanistan. [5] [33] Some members of the Taliban and their family have long been residing among the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] Others such as the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and their family members, who are awaiting to be firmly settled in the United States, [11] [12] [14] [15] are also residing in Pakistan. Regarding the Taliban, Prime Minister of Pakistan stated the following:
What the Taliban are doing or are not doing has nothing to do with us. We are neither responsible, nor the spokesperson for the Taliban. [39]
— Imran Khan, July 2021
On 3 October 2023, Pakistan's Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti ordered that all undocumented immigrants, particularly the nearly 1.73 million Afghan nationals, voluntarily leave the country by 1 November 2023 or face deportation in a crackdown. [40] [41] Taliban authorities condemned the deportations of Afghans as an "inhuman act." [42]
As of October 2020, there are 780,000 registered Afghan refugees and asylum seekers temporarily residing in Iran under the care and protection of the UNHCR. [23] [29] [43] [44] The majority of them were born in Iran during the last four decades but are still considered citizens of Afghanistan. According to Iranian officials, 2 million citizens of Afghanistan who have no legal documents and over half a million Iranian visa holders also reside in various parts of the country. [43] [44] Iran has long been used by Afghans to reach Turkey and then Europe where they apply for political asylum. [45] [46] [47] As in Pakistan, the Afghan refugees are not firmly settled but reside there on a temporary basis.
Iran's initial response towards Afghan refugees, driven by religious solidarity, was an open door policy where Afghans in Iran had freedom of movement to travel or work in any city in addition to subsidies for propane, gasoline, certain food items and even health coverage. [48] [49] In the early 2000s, Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) initiated registration of all foreigners, including refugees. It began issuing temporary residence cards to certain Afghans. [50] In 2000, the Iranian government also initiated a joint repatriation program with the UNHCR. [50] Laws were passed in order to encourage the repatriation of Afghan refugees, such as limits on employment, areas of residence, and access to services including education. [50] In 2021, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that just over one million Afghans have been sent back. [51] In 2023, Iran along with Pakistan decided to deport more refugees. [52] [53]
India hosts approximately 15,816 Afghan refugees within its borders. [29] [54] [55] The majority of them reside in the nation's capital Delhi, specifically in the neighborhoods of Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal and Malviya Nagar. [54] Some of them operate "shops, restaurants and pharmacies." [54] Afghan refugees were admitted to India during and after the Soviet–Afghan War (1979-1989). [56] A lot of the once-vibrant Sikhs in Afghanistan and Afghan Hindus have become refugees in India following the wars. [57] Also much of Afghanistan's Christian community thrives within India. [58] In 2021, following the end of the latest war in Afghanistan, India has offered an emergency visa (the 'e-Emergency X-Misc Visa') to some citizens of Afghanistan. [59] [60] [56]
When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Canadian Government announced it would resettle 40,000 vulnerable Afghans such as women and girls, members of Afghanistan's LGBTQ community, human rights workers and journalists. [61] This was in addition to an earlier initiative to resettle thousands of Afghans who had worked for the Canadian Government, such as interpreters and embassy employees, as well as their families. [62] By March 2022, Canada resettled 8,580 Afghan refugees. [61] By August 2022, the first anniversary of the fall of Kabul, that number had risen to 17,375. [63] Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, on 27 September 2023 announced that Canada initiated an aid of providing $14 million in development funding for 2 projects in support of health and essential services for Afghan refugees and host communities in Pakistan impacted by last year's flooding. Of this $14 million, $10 million is being allocated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for essential services and recovery efforts, such as the rehabilitation of schools and health facilities, the provision of livelihood training and services associated with gender-based violence. The remaining $4 million will go to the World Health Organization for health services, including sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health care and for gender-based violence services. [64]
On 17 August, after the fall of Kabul, Ugandan Government announced that based on United States' request, they will be temporarily hosting 2000 Afghan refugees. The refugees were expected to be brought in batches of 500 to Entebbe where UNHCR has secured Imperial Hotels for their arrival and screening. [65] The number of refugees currently residing in Uganda is unclear, but according to reports, Ugandan officials had confirmed the arrival of 145 refugees on Sunday, 22 August 2021. [66] Another 51 Afghans were received at the Entebbe International Airport by the Government of the Republic of Uganda on 25 August 2021. [67]
On 7 August, due to the threat from the Taliban, the US. Embassy Kabul announced to all American citizens living in Afghanistan to begin evacuating themselves from the country and that all employees of the embassy leave immediately if "their function could be performed from elsewhere." [68]
Although, the Department of State, on April 27, 2021, had ordered American troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11, [69] it was not until early August 2021 that the security situation of Kabul deteriorated drastically. This was a time when Taliban militia were taking over Afghanistan one city and/or province at a time. [70] On August 12, the US. Embassy Kabul issued a security alert directing all US citizen to leave Afghanistan immediately using commercial flights if they can, and if they could not afford it, they could contact the embassy to get information regarding repatriation loan. [71]
On August 18, 2021, the Embassy issued another alert to US citizen and LPRs (lawful permanent residents) with their spouse and unmarried children to travel to the Hamid Karzai International Airport and enter the airport at Camp Sullivan. [72] When news of this reached the ears of the many Afghan citizens trying to escape the rule of Taliban, they rushed to HKIA. [73]
In 2021 Afghanistan started its largest humanitarian evacuations in history, involving more than 80,000 people.(Urban.org) [74]
And thus began, the second phase of Operation Allies Refuge from 15 August to 31 August 2021. On August 21 and August 25, the US. Embassy once again issued security alerts advising US citizen to avoid travelling to the airport and to evacuate the Abbey Gate, East Gate and North Gate immediately. [75]
On August 26, 2021, CNN reported two explosions at the HKIA that killed 13 US Marines and approximately 60 Afghans outside the airport walls. [76]
The US admitted more than 10,000 Afghan refugees from the United Arab Emirates, which became a temporary host to them on behalf of other nations. However, nearly 12,000 refugees remained in the Abu Dhabi facility as of August 2022. Refugees began to protest the slow and opaque resettlement process and the living conditions. [77] The protests resurfaced in October 2022. A refugee who moved to Canada said they are “psychologically suffering” in the Emirati facility. [78]
In June 2023, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) discussed the current situation in Afghanistan. “In Afghanistan, approximately 15.3 million people (35 percent of the population analysed) are estimated to face high acute food insecurity … including just under 2.8 million people in Emergency … Over 3.2 million children and 804,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished.” [79]
Hundreds of former Afghan special forces who fought alongside British troops in Afghanistan have been refused resettlement to the UK. [80] [81] One former UK Special Forces officer told the BBC that "At a time when certain actions by UK Special Forces are under investigation by a public inquiry, their headquarters also had the power to prevent former Afghan Special Forces colleagues and potential witnesses to these actions from getting safely to the UK." [82]
As shown in the chart below, Afghan refugees were admitted to other countries during the following periods:
Country | Soviet–Afghan War (1979–89) | Civil War (1992–96) | Taliban Rule (1996–2001) | War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pakistan | 3,100,000 [83] | 1,438,432 | [27] [23] [84] [29] [30] [5] | ||
Iran | 3,100,000 [83] | 780,000 | [23] [84] [29] [43] | ||
Germany | 147,994 | [23] | |||
Turkey | 129,323 | [29] | |||
United States | 132,000 [85] | 89,500 | [86] [87] [88] | ||
Austria | 40,096 | [23] [89] | |||
France | 31,546 | [23] | |||
Sweden | 29,927 | [23] | |||
Greece | 21,456 | [23] | |||
India | 60,000 [90] | 15,806 | [29] [91] | ||
Switzerland | 14,523 | [23] | |||
Italy | 12,096 | [23] | |||
Australia | 10,659 | [23] | |||
United Kingdom | 9,351 | [23] | |||
Indonesia | 7,629 | [29] [92] [23] | |||
Tajikistan | 1,161 [93] | 15,336 [93] | 5,573 | [23] | |
Netherlands | 5,212 | [23] | |||
Belgium | 4,689 | [23] | |||
Norway | 4,007 | [23] | |||
Finland | 3,331 | [23] | |||
Malaysia | 2,661 | [29] [23] | |||
Romania | 2,384 | [94] | |||
Canada | 2,261 | [23] | |||
Denmark | 2,134 | [23] | |||
Portugal | 883 | [95] |
Human rights abuses against admitted Afghan refugees and asylum seekers have been widely documented. They include mistreatment, persecution or torture in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Germany, the United States and several other NATO-members states. [96] [97] [98] [99] [100] [17] Afghans living in Iran, for example, were deliberately restricted from attending public schools. [101] [102] [103] As the price of citizenship for their family members, Afghan children as young as 14 were recruited to fight in Iraq and Syria for a six-month tour. [104]
Afghan refugees were regularly denied visas to travel between countries to visit their family members, faced long delays (usually a few years) [105] in processing of their visa applications to visit family members for purposes such as weddings, gravely ill family member, burial ceremonies, and university graduation ceremonies; potentially violating rights including free movement, right to family life and the right to an effective remedy. [106] [107] [108] Racism, low wage jobs including below minimum wage jobs, lower than inflation rate salary increases, were commonly practiced in Europe and elsewhere. Unsanitary conditions have been reported at US air bases, [109] [110] and one Afghan refugee's online post of his food portion at Fort Bliss in 2021 drew some hateful responses. [111] [112] Many Afghan refugees were not permitted to visit their family members for a decade or two. Studies have shown abnormally high mental health issues and suicide rates among Afghan refugees and their children. [113] [114] [115] [116] [117]
The foreign relations of Afghanistan are in a transitional phase since the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the internationally-recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. No country has recognised the new regime, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Although some countries have engaged in informal diplomatic contact with the Islamic Emirate, formal relations remain limited to representatives of the Islamic Republic.
Refugees in New Zealand have two main pathways for gaining protection in the country. Asylum seekers may seek protection after arrival in New Zealand. Refugees may also be resettled from offshore through New Zealand's Refugee Quota Programme. In 2017/18 a community sponsorship pathway was trialled, extended from 2021.
Relations between Afghanistan and Iran were established in 1935 during King Zahir Shah's reign and the Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi, though ties between the two countries have existed for millennia. As a result, many Afghans speak Persian, as Dari is one of the official languages of Afghanistan, and many in Afghanistan also celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
Afghan Americans are Americans with ancestry from Afghanistan. They form the largest Afghan community in North America with the second being Afghan Canadians. Afghan Americans may originate from any of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan.
Afghan passports are international travel documents issued by the General Directorate of Passports to nationals and citizens of Afghanistan. Every person with a valid Afghan identity card (Tazkira) can apply for and receive an Afghan passport, which is renewable every 5–10 years.
Afghanistan–Pakistan relations refer to the bilateral ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In August 1947, the partition of British India led to the emergence of Pakistan along Afghanistan's eastern frontier, and the two countries have since had a strained relationship; Afghanistan was the sole country to vote against Pakistan's admission into the United Nations following the latter's independence. Various Afghan government officials and Afghan nationalists have made irredentist claims to large swathes of Pakistan's territory in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistani Balochistan, which complete the traditional homeland of "Pashtunistan" for the Pashtun people. The Taliban has received substantial financial and logistical backing from Pakistan, which remains a significant source of support. Since the Taliban's inception, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has been providing them with funding, training, and weaponry. However, Pakistan's support for the Taliban is not without risks, as it involves playing a precarious and delicate game. Afghan territorial claims over Pashtun-majority areas that are in Pakistan were coupled with discontent over the permanency of the Durand Line, for which Afghanistan demanded a renegotiation, with the aim of having it shifted eastward to the Indus River. Territorial disputes and conflicting claims prevented the normalization of bilateral ties between the two countries throughout the mid-20th century. Further Afghanistan–Pakistan tensions have arisen concerning a variety of issues, including the Afghanistan conflict and Afghan refugees in Pakistan, water-sharing rights, and a continuously warming relationship between Afghanistan and India. Nonetheless, the Durand Line witnesses frequent occurrences of suicide bombings, airstrikes, or street battles on an almost daily basis.
Afghanistan–India relations are the diplomatic relations between India and Afghanistan. They had been historical neighbors and shared cultural ties through Bollywood and cricket.
Afghans in Pakistan are temporary residents from Afghanistan who are registered in Pakistan as refugees and asylum seekers. They fall under the jurisdiction of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of them were born and raised in Pakistan during the last four decades. Additionally, there are also Special Immigrant Visa applicants awaiting to immmigrate to the United States.
The population of Afghans in Tajikistan consists largely of Afghan refugees from the various wars which have plagued neighboring Afghanistan. They form the vast majority of all refugees in Tajikistan; the other refugees in the country include a few Uyghurs and Iraqis.
Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that reside and work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and citizens of Afghanistan who have immigrated to other countries. The majority of the diaspora has been formed by Afghan refugees since the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979; the largest numbers temporarily reside in Iran. As stateless refugees or asylum seekers, they are protected by the well-established non-refoulement principle and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The ones having at least one American parent are further protected by United States laws.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kabul was the official diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The embassy was housed in a chancery located on Great Massoud Road in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and was built at a cost of nearly $800 million. On August 15, 2021, in the face of a Taliban advance on Kabul, embassy staff relocated to makeshift but secure facilities at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Kabul fell and the chancery building officially closed late August 15th.
The Hazara people are an ethnic group who are mostly from Afghanistan, primarily from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat, they established a large diaspora that consists of many communities in different countries around the world as part of the later Afghan diaspora. There are currently a million Hazara who live in the Balochistan province of Pakistan mostly in Quetta, many of whom have been settled in the country for generations and are now Pakistani citizens. A similarly large Hazara community is also present in Mashhad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diaspora.
Afghanistan and Mexico hold diplomatic relations, both being members of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
The Afghan Tazkira is an official national identity document issued to every national and citizen of Afghanistan, including a member of the Afghan diaspora around the world. The document is used to obtain an electronic Afghan identity card or e-Tazkira, which is valid for up to 10 years and required for many things such as employment, registering in school, operating a business, buying or renting a house, opening a bank account, sending or receiving money through Western Union, purchasing a SIM card, obtaining a passport, booking airline tickets, staying in hotels, etc. The documents serve as proof of identity and residency but more importantly Afghan nationality. Both the paper Tazkira and e-Tazkira are issued by the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), which has offices in all provinces of Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia has historically exerted a strong influence on Afghanistan and was one of the major providers of funds to the Afghan mujahideen who were fighting against the Soviets and their allies the DRA. Saudi Arabia was also the second of only three countries to recognize the first Taliban government, extending official recognition on 26 May 1997, one day after Pakistan and shortly before the United Arab Emirates. After the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia was one of the major helpers in the Afghan reconstruction. For example, the main highway project was funded mainly by the United States and Saudi Arabia. The Grand Mosque of Kabul in Afghanistan was also financed by Saudi Arabia.
On 15 August 2021, Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban after a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021. It was the final action of the War in Afghanistan, and marked a total victory for the Taliban. This led to the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.
On 15 August 2021, the city of Kabul, the capital of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, was captured by Taliban forces during the 2021 Taliban offensive, concluding the War in Afghanistan that began in 2001. The fall of Kabul provoked a range of reactions across the globe, including debates on whether to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, on the humanitarian situation in the country, on the outcome of the War, and the role of military interventionism in world affairs.
Large-scale evacuations of foreign citizens and some vulnerable Afghan citizens took place amid the withdrawal of US and NATO forces at the end of the 2001–2021 war in Afghanistan. The Taliban took control of Kabul and declared victory on 15 August 2021, and the NATO-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed. With the Taliban controlling the whole city except Hamid Karzai International Airport, hostilities ceased and the Taliban assisted in the evacuation effort by providing security and screening evacuees.
The 20-year-long War in Afghanistan had a number of significant impacts on Afghan society.
While all citizens are nationals, not all nationals are citizens.
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000, Pub.L. No. 106-395, 114 Stat. 1631, revised the manner in which children of non-citizens born outside the United States are eligible to become U.S. citizens.
A child acquires derivative citizenship by operation of law, not by adjudication.
A person who claims to have derived United States citizenship by naturalization of a parent may apply to the Attorney General for a certificate, but a certificate is not required.
The Immigration and Nationality Act defines naturalization as 'conferring of nationality of a state upon a person after birth, by any means whatsoever.'
A person naturalized under § 1433(a) need not meet many of the requirements for naturalization—such as language, residence, and physical presence requirements—imposed upon those who seek naturalization under other provisions.... Thus, qualifying for naturalization under § 1433(a) can be of substantial importance to applicants for naturalization.
Since 2002, in what has become the world's largest assisted return programme, UNHCR has been facilitating voluntary repatriation of millions of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. Ten years after programme began, UNHCR has directly helped around 4.4 million Afghans to return home.
Pakistan's interior minister said Sunday that the families of Afghanistan's Taliban reside in his country, including in areas around the capital, Islamabad, and the insurgent group's members receive some medical treatment in local hospitals.
According to the latest figures communicated by the Government in October 2020, on which consultations are ongoing, 800,000 refugees live in Iran, of which 780,000 are Afghans and 20,000 are Iraqis. Additionally, it is estimated that some 2 million undocumented Afghans and nearly 600,000 Afghan-passport holders live in Iran – it is expected that a significant number of those individuals continue to have international protection needs.
refugees (country of origin): 2.6 million undocumented Afghans, 780,000 Afghan refugee card holders, 20,000 Iraqi refugee card holders (2020)
Upon arrival in the US, more than 70,000 evacuees (PDF) were granted humanitarian parole for two years, a temporary immigration status with no path to permanent residency.
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Those who fled the Taliban's first reign grapple with the constant threat of deportation, police harassment, and discrimination.
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