The Migration Refugee Process In Afghanistan History Essay

Migration and refugee process is a process that had a negative effect on the whole world, before entering into the main point, which is an example that will show us how the migration and refugee process effect the whole world in reality (Afghanistan); we will need first to understand what does these two expressions means.

Refugee is a word that could express an individual or a group of people that are/is owning a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality and membership also the word refugee includes the people that are persecuted out of there own country because of a political decision, which means that they are unprotected by there country so they are always seeking to travel for another country for safety.

Secondly is the word migration , migration is the “act or process of people moving from one place to another with the intent of staying at the destination permanently or for a relatively long period of time” [1] , there are two different types of migration, the first type is the international immigrant type, individuals or group of people can be considered as an international immigrant if she or he “had enters the country to settle his or her usual place of residence for more than the same minimal time duration” [2] , and the second type is the international emigrant which means that if he or she “had leaves the country and transfers his or her usual residence outside the country for more than a minimal duration of time” [3] .

After giving a brief overview on the two expressions (Refugee, Migration), we will enter now into the main point of the research paper, this main point is a unique example that faces a lot of problems concerning the refugee and migration process (Afghanistan).

Afghanistan is a landlocked country that is located in the heart of Asia. Actually the Afghani population is mostly divided into 7 large ethnic groups (Pushtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Hazara and Nurstan), the division of the population into 7 large ethnic groups builds a wall of conflicts in the state, and this wall of conflicts was one of the four major reasons that helped in increasing the afghani migration and refugee process though it had reached the largest refugee population for mostly 2 decades, the other 3 main reasons that helped in escalating the Refugee problem in Afghanistan can mainly be shaped in a form of word that is called the refugee crisis, Afghanistan refugee crisis is a word that is consisted out of three main reasons that helped in growing up the problem of refugees and migration in Afghanistan, this three main reasons are:

The Soviet invasion 1979

The withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989

Taliban Restrictions

The Migration and refugee process that was escalated in Afghanistan built on the four major reasons that was raised in the paper, had effected the afghani population, and the studies that was made in fact of drawing a picture to the Afghani people had assumed that “50% of the population is illiterate” [4] and that this illiteracy effected there life expectancy a lot (life expectancy is 44 years), also this illiteracy had effected the Afghani population in there Economic, political and social field.

In 1978 Afghanistan begin to develop there political system, and actually they had succeeded in forming the first democratic republic in Afghanistan, in 1979 after the establishment of the democratic republic, Afghanistan was invaded by the soviet union, this invasion had caused the first massive emigrant process in Afghanistan, the Afghani people began to flow to the neighbor states( Iran, Pakistan) in form of refugees, and citizens how couldn’t leave the state begin to move for the safest cities inside the country, which also means that the invasion caused internally displacement inside the state, and the United Nations commissioner studies had assumed that:

During the 1980s

More than 6 million Afghani became refugees

Between 1988 & 1991

3.5 million in Pakistan

2 million in Iran

One Million of refugees is spread all over the world

Actually this was the external displacement of the Afghani refugee, while on the other hand there was a large massive internal displacement which causes a lot of disturbance inside the country, and what proofs this sentence is that the United Nations commissioners had estimated that there was “2 million internally displacement and that Kabul city had grew from 600,000 to 2 million people.” [5] 

The second Refugee crisis in Afghanistan was done in 1989, and the reason of appearing this crisis was built on the reason of the withdrawal of the soviet troops which cause another population movements.

Probably, this time the population movements was divided into two types, the first type was the people who where considered Afghani refugees, and they were returning back to there country after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union, and the second type of the populations is the people who were sympathizers for the soviet, and they were seeking to be recognized as a refugees because the Soviet has no more role in Afghanistan and they could not stay in Afghanistan after the soviet withdrawal because they can be killed by the Afghani people , During the process in which this movements had took place, a civil war had appeared in Afghanistan.

The reasons of this Civil war had stopped the process of the population movements and change it from the form of returning of the refugees, to the form where Afghani people are seeking to be once more considered as a refugees, and this negative change that had appeared was built on several facts concerning the main reason which is the civil war, this main facts are:”

Refugees doesn’t feel secure enough to return back to there homes

They were afraid to be persecuted by Muslim Unbelievable

citing fears of attack on home and property

citing fear of political persecution

Arrest and forced conscription” [6] 

The strange point is that rather than solving the refugee problems and accepting them back to there countries after the withdrawal of the soviet, the opposite had happened and things became more wore sable the refugee numbers had increased once more, and the internally movements had increased also once more, the UNHCR studies had assumed that after the return of 2-3 million Afghans in the early 1990s there studies had approved that by “2000 there were again nearly 5 million Afghans refugees and 800000 internally displaced persons” [7] .

The third Afghanis crisis that helped in increasing the migration and refugee process is the Taliban crisis.

Taliban is a fundamentalist Islamic Militia that had been established in 1994, it is consisted out of young members (men & boys), those members had leaved a really harsh life in Afghanistan, and using the word harsh is built on several reasons.

The reason of using a strong word like harsh was mentioned because this young members of the Taliban Militia is been born and leaved in the refugee camps , which actually means that they had suffered a lot from the soviet invasion and from the ethnic conflicts that were found in Afghanistan during the 1980s and 1990s. Taliban members were trained in ultraconservative religious schools in Pakistan.

In fact of the society that the Taliban members had been raised upon, they didn’t try to solve the problems of refugees, while on the other hand they had suffered there whole life because of this problem (refugee Case). Actually the Taliban militia had helped in increasing the refugee and migration process in Afghanistan, and what proofs this words is that Taliban military was forcing the Afghani civilians to leave Kabul city by there restrictions, which means that they will increase the internally movements of the population inside the country, and actually build on this internally movements there would be a lot of civilians that will seek to be recognized as a refugees because of the hard economic life that they will face, Even though the Human rights international organization had tried to help the civilians who leaves under the authority of the Taliban Militia in Kabul, but they actually refuse to accept any help or food from this organizations, and what support this argument is that “workers for internationally aid organizations that were trying to deliver food and medicine to the desperate Afghanis is been harassed , subjected to unreasonable restrictions and even in some time they are arrested by Taliban military.

In conclusion as it was mentioned in the introduction of this research paper; that the migration and refugee process is a process that had a negative effect on the whole world, and that the migration and refugee process is a process that can mostly appear after a war or in a period where there is an internal ethnic, religious conflicts, or any other types of conflicts that effect the national and international levels of the world.

Actually from my point of view, concerning the Afghani example of refugees, which is one of the most important examples because Afghanistan was considered as one of the most largest refugee population in the world for two decades, I can really observe that Afghanistan is a country that had suffered from the economical, political and social fields a lot, and that it will keep suffering from this fields because of the refugee and migration process that is still running there. In the Afghanis example of refugees I had learned that the refugee and migration process had an internal and external effect on the state.

First, the internally population movements inside a country had a huge side effect on the Cities and also on the people who leave inside this cities, My argument was based and build upon several main reasons, The reason why I disagree with the internally movements is that this movements ends a lot of beneficial services that is presented by the city for its citizens as:

Jobs

hospitals care

Traffics

Food

Schools

And a lot of life needs that is needed by each citizen in his city, and when each point of these points is affected it will influence the state.

On the other hand, from the external Sid effect, refugees affect a lot the neighbor’s states, because a refugee or asylum seeker I always seeking to leave in a place near his country so it is always the neighbor states, when I had mentioned that refugees effect the country externally actually I had meant the external relation with the states that can be Affected in reason of this immigration, Example: when Iran had mentioned that it would not accept any more Afghani refugees, Actually this decision can affect the relation between the two states and can build a dogma of hatred between the two populations because un accepting them means that the refugees will return back to there countries and they can be killed or assassinated there. Refugee and migration process is a defining characteristic of the international landscape.