The Road to hell is paved with good intentionsAsk Afghans evacuated to Pakistan, who are now living in refugee hell
When the Taliban returned to Afghanistan in 2021, bringing to an end America’s failed, yet longest war, the international community evacuated more than 120,0000 Afghans and hundreds of thousands more left the country, most headed to Pakistan, armed with little more than a hope of finding a new home, preferably in the west. As is often the case the west championed its generosity with countless stories told of heroic efforts to remove Afghans from their homeland, relocating most of them to the Middle Eastern State of Qatar, or Pakistan. Women activists, human rights workers, civil rights workers, translators, journalists, pretty much anyone who had even a passing connection with a foreign organization was offered a chance at resettlement or led to believe they indeed had a chance. While the intentions of Afghans’ “foreign friends” may have been good, those Afghans, who were evacuated or led to believe resettlement was a possibility, are living in refugee hell in Pakistan, denied entry to countries they thought would take them, their Pakistani visas long since expired and their foreign “friends” long gone. Many have little money, they move regularly to avoid detection by the Pakistani authorities, who have launched a relentless campaign to return Afghans to their country. One Afghan family returned to their home outside the Pakistani capital Islamabad to find their neighbors, also Afghan refugees, had been taken by the police. Hurriedly they packed their belongings, including packets of documents that contained letters of promise from at least two western embassies, one of which said some question was left unanswered and as a result the application was denied. The Afghan refugee, who can’t be identified because he is in hiding, said he had answered the question, but knew of no way to let the embassy know. His emails and letters have gone unanswered. Attempts by others to contact the embassies have been met with instructions to ‘go to the website.” This Afghan refugee and his young family were among the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who arrived in Pakistan with a variety of documents proving their affiliation with some western organization, military or intelligence agency, including the CIA. They carried letters of recommendation from their foreign employers, some even carried letters from embassies that seemed to them almost a promise of relocation. They saw in those letters a door to immigration, an exit from Pakistan to another country. But for so many that never happened and all the apparent good intentions of their “foreign friends” has paved the road to the refugee hell so many are now living. The U.S. government offered preferred visa status to tens of thousands, the exact number is not clear. Britain, Germany, along with many NATO countries who had fought for 20 years in Afghanistan, as well as non-government organizations, news organizations, individuals all scrambled to evacuate Afghans. The special and preferred U.S, immigration visas that were widely offered to Afghans came with a mountain of bureaucracy, much of which seemed designed to defeat visa applicants. The visa applications also included a requirement that the application process be completed outside of Afghanistan (usually Pakistan) and the U.S. offered no promise of guaranteed immigration at the end of the process. Still for many Afghans the visas offered a hope and the very mention of preferred or special status was believed by many to mean most certainly they would be granted the visa, after all the U.S. deemed them either special or preferred. Surely then their applications would be accepted, believed many refugees, who held tight to the thinnest thread of hope. As of 2023, the United Nations estimated nearly 4 million Afghans live as refugees in Pakistan and nearly as many in Iran, which is also forcibly sending Afghans home. International assistance to these refugees is minimal, and for many non-existent. Countless refugees have struggled to even register with the United Nations. Meanwhile in Pakistan, the authorities, have stepped up their campaign to return Afghans to Afghanistan. Pakistan says it is the undocumented they are seeking to return to Afghanistan claiming security concerns . But Afghans who have lived decades in Pakistan, some who are refugees from the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, have been picked up and forced to return to a country their children and grandchildren have never seen. This month marks four years since the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan. Forever etched in history are the chaotic scenes of the frightened embassies scrambling to leave. It struck me odd then and still does today that the very Taliban the United States spent two years negotiating with in Doha, even with whom they signed an agreement, filled them with such fear those August days in 2021. I mean they must have had the phone number of the senior Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with whom they negotiated. I mean even Donald Trump during his election debate spoke of his repeated conversations with Mullah Baradar, whom he referred to as simply “Abdul.” Today western embassies refuse to return to Afghanistan saying they won’t compromise on the rights of Afghan women and girls, but what of the Afghans in Pakistan, in hiding, or those who have returned to Afghanistan. What becomes of them. Their “foreign friends” don’t want them in their country, regardless of what some might say or what promises some ministers might make. Immigration has become a dirty word in much of the world, not just the west. Maybe its time to return to Afghanistan, without giving diplomatic recognition to the Taliban, something more than 17 countries have already done, including Japan. Perhaps the mere presence in Afghanistan of the so called “foreign friends”, might offer some solace, some hope. Hope can be a powerful thing. Thanks for reading Kathy Gannon's Substack! |