{"id":8237,"date":"2022-02-03T12:27:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T12:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=8237"},"modified":"2022-10-15T14:19:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T14:19:36","slug":"over-a-million-afghans-displaced-by-the-economic-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2022\/02\/over-a-million-afghans-displaced-by-the-economic-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Over a million Afghans displaced by the economic crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MONITORING (SW) &#8211; Thousands of Afghans are trying to sneak into Iran and Pakistan each day, as incomes have dried up and life-threatening hunger has become widespread.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"app\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div aria-hidden=\"false\">\n<article id=\"story\" class=\"css-1ygeb3d e1lmdhsb0\">\n<div id=\"fullBleedHeaderContent\">\n<div class=\"css-yi0xdk e89cr9k0\">\n<p class=\"css-14xmeol\"><span class=\"css-1f9pvn2 asia\">Just a few hundred yards away from the Iranian border, the migrants hunch down in a ditch around midnight, waiting to receive the green light from their handlers to move forward, near Zaranj, Afghanistan, in November.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-14xmeol\">From their hide-out in the desert ravine, the migrants could just make out the white lights of the Iranian border glaring over the horizon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">The air was cold and their breath heavy. Many had spent the last of their savings on food weeks before and cobbled together cash from relatives, hoping to escape Afghanistan\u2019s economic collapse. Now, looking at the border they saw a lifeline: work, money, food to eat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is no other option for me, I cannot go back,\u201d said Najaf Akhlaqi, 26, staring at the smugglers scouring the moonlit landscape for Taliban patrols. Then he jolted to his feet as the smugglers barked at the group to run.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Since the United States withdrew troops and the Taliban seized power, Afghanistan has plunged into an economic crisis that has pushed millions already living hand-to-mouth over the edge. Incomes have vanished, life-threatening hunger has become widespread and badly needed aid has been stymied by Western sanctions against Taliban officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-1-wrapper\" class=\"css-qlhgae\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-1-slug\" class=\"css-l9onyx\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"story-ad-1\" class=\"ad story-ad-1-wrapper css-rfqw0c\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/29390238\/nyt\/world\/asia_2__container__\">More than half of the population is facing \u201cextreme levels\u201d of hunger, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, said last month. \u201cFor Afghans, daily life has become a frozen hell,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Now with no immediate respite in sight, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to neighboring countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">From October through the end of January, more than a million Afghans in southwestern Afghanistan alone have set off down one of two major migration routes into Iran, according to migration researchers.\u00a0Aid organizations estimate\u00a0that around 4,000 to 5,000 people\u00a0are crossing into Iran each day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Though many are choosing to leave because of the immediate economic crisis, the prospect of long-term Taliban governance \u2014 including restrictions on women and fears of retribution \u2014 has only added to their urgency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-2-wrapper\" class=\"css-qlhgae\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-2-slug\" class=\"css-l9onyx\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s an exponential increase in the number of people departing Afghanistan through this route, particularly given how challenging this journey is in the winter months,\u201d said David Mansfield, a researcher tracking Afghan migration. By his estimates, up to four times as many Afghans were leaving Afghanistan for Pakistan and then Iran each day in January compared with the same time last year.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">The exodus has raised alarms across the region and in Europe, where politicians fear a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis, when more than a million people, mostly Syrians, sought asylum in Europe, setting off a populist backlash. Many fear that this spring as temperatures rise and the snow-covered routes become easier to traverse, a deluge of Afghans could arrive at the European Union\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Determined to contain migrants in the region, the\u00a0European Union last fall pledged over $1 billion\u00a0in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and neighboring countries hosting Afghans who have fled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">\u201cWe need new agreements and commitments in place to be able to assist and help an extremely vulnerable civil population,\u201d Jonas Gahr Store, the Norwegian prime minister, said\u00a0in a statement\u00a0at the U.N. Security Council\u2019s meeting on Afghanistan last month. \u201cWe must do what we can to avoid another migration crisis and another source of instability in the region and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">But Western donors are still wrestling with complicated questions over how to meet their humanitarian obligations to ordinary Afghans without propping up the new Taliban government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">In recent months, Taliban officials have appealed to Western officials to release their chokehold on the economy, making some promises around education for girls and other conditions set by the international community for aid. As the humanitarian situation worsened, the United States also issued some exemptions to sanctionsand committed $308 million in aid last month \u2014 bringing the total U.S. assistance to the country to $782 million since October last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">But aid can only go so far in a country facing economic collapse, experts say. Unless Western donors move more quickly to release their chokehold on the economy and revive the financial system, Afghans desperate for work will likely continue to look abroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Crouching among the migrant group in the desert, Mr. Akhlaqi steeled himself for the desperate dash ahead: A mile-long scramble over churned-earth trenches, a 15-foot-high border wall topped with barbed wire and a vast stretch of scrubland flush with Iranian security forces. Over the past month, he had crossed the border 19 times, he said. Each time, he was arrested and returned over the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">A police officer under the former government, Mr. Akhlaqi went into hiding in relatives\u2019 homes for fear of Taliban retribution. As the little savings that fed his family ran dry, he moved from city to city looking for a new job. But the work was scarce. So in early November, he linked up with smugglers in Nimruz Province determined to get to Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div class=\"css-79elbk\" data-testid=\"photoviewer-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-4-wrapper\" class=\"css-qlhgae\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-4-slug\" class=\"css-l9onyx\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"after-story-ad-4\">\u201cI\u2019m afraid of the Iranian border guards,\u201d he lamented. Still, he said, \u201cI can\u2019t stay here.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghans accounted for the second highest number of\u00a0asylum claims\u00a0in Europe, after Syria, and one of the world\u2019s largest populations of\u00a0refugees\u00a0and asylum seekers \u2014\u00a0around 3 million\u00a0people \u2014 most of whom live in Iran and Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Many fled through Nimruz, a remote corner of southwest Afghanistan wedged between the borders of Iran and Pakistan that has served as a smuggling haven for decades. In its capital, Zaranj, Afghans from around the country crowd into smuggler-run hotels that line the main road and gather around street vendors\u2019 kebab stands, exchanging stories about the grueling journey ahead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">At a parking lot at the center of town known as \u201cThe Terminal,\u201d men pile into the backs of pickup trucks bound for Pakistan while young boys hawk goggles and water bottles. On a recent day, their sales pitches \u2014 \u201cWho wants water?\u201d \u2014 were nearly smothered by the sounds of honking cars and the angry shouts of haggling men exchanging tattered Afghani bank notes for Iranian toman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Standing in line to climb into the back of a pickup, Abdul, 25, had arrived the day before from Kunduz, a commercial hub in northern Afghanistan that was wracked with fighting last summer during the Taliban\u2019s blitz offensive. As the thuds of mortar fire engulfed the city, his business sputtered to a halt. After the takeover, his shop stood empty as people saved the little money they had for basics like food and medicine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">As the months dragged on, Abdul borrowed money to feed his own family, plunging further and further into debt. Finally, he decided leaving for Iran was his only option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to leave my country, but I have no other choice,\u201d said Abdul, who asked that The Times use only his first name, fearing that his family could face retaliation. \u201cIf the economic situation continues like this, there will be no future here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">As the economic crisis has worsened, local Taliban officials have sought to profit off the exodus by regulating the lucrative smuggling business. At the Terminal, a Taliban official sitting in a small silver car collects a new tax \u2014 1,000 Afghanis, or about $10 \u2014 from each car heading to Pakistan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">At first, Taliban officials also taxed the city\u2019s other main migrant route, a smuggler-escorted journey across the desert and over the border wall directly into Iran. But after accusations in September that a smuggler had raped a girl, the Taliban reversed course, cracking down on this desert route.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Still, such efforts have done little to deter smugglers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Speeding through a desert road around midnight, one smuggler, S., who preferred to go by only his first initial because of the illegal nature of his work, blasted Arabic pop music from his stereo. A music video with a woman swaying in a tight black dress played on the car\u2019s navigation screen. As he neared his safe house, he cut the back lights to avoid being followed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Moving people each night requires a delicate dance: First, he strikes a deal with a low-ranking Iranian border guard to allow a certain number of migrants to cross. Then, he tells other smugglers to bring migrants from their hotel to a safe house in the desert and coordinates with his business partner to meet the group on the other side of the border. Once the sun sets, he and others drive for hours, scoping the area for Taliban patrols and \u2014 once the route is clear \u2014 take the migrants from the safe house to the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">\u201c<\/em>We don\u2019t have a home, our home is our car, all night driving near to the border \u2014 one day my wife will kick me out of home,\u201d S. said, erupting in laughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">Crossing the border is just the first hurdle that Afghans must overcome. Since the takeover, both Pakistan and Iran have stepped up deportations, warning that their fragile economies cannot handle an infl<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\">In the last five months of 2021, more than 500,000 who entered these countries illegally were either deported or voluntarily returned to Afghanistan, likely fearing deportation, according to the U.N.\u2019s International Organization for Migration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONITORING (SW) &#8211; Thousands of Afghans are trying to sneak into Iran and Pakistan each day, as incomes have dried up and life-threatening hunger has become widespread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,179,16,17,18,200,981,24,225,5,8,6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soceity","category-economy-business","category-report","category-security_","category-peace","category-democracy-human-rights","category-economy","category-women","category-corruption","category-politics_","category-governance","category-afghanistan","category-headline"],"views":498,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12223,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8237\/revisions\/12223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}