Consequence of conflict in Afghanistan continues……

The massive refugee wave to Pakistan and Iran between 1978 and 1992 can be linked to the events around the 1978 coup, the Russian intervention in 1979, the introduction of new national military service regulations in 1981-82 as well as several attempts by the Kabul government to destroy opposition bases. The obligatory education of women and other communist policies forcing the emancipation of women were other reasons for Afghans to flee the country in the winter of 1978-79, in order to protect the honour of their female kin. The peak was reached in 1981. After the withdrawal of the Russians in 1989 and the taking of power by the Mujahideen in 1992, many of them returned to Afghanistan. For example, in the year 1992 alone, 1.6 million Afghans left Iran and Pakistan.

A second type of emigration was a selective and elite one to the West. A minority of a few hundred thousand refugees was able to reach Europe, North-America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Most of them belonged to the wealthy, urban, educated Pashtun or Tajik elite and middle classes, especially from the capital Kabul.

The extreme rich mostly sought refuge in Canada and the USA, and the middle classes in Europe. Many had a direct link to the government, be it as a government employee or at an ideological level by the adherence to the politics of a certain regime and have followed a secondary or higher education in Afghanistan or abroad. Between 1994 and 2004, 238 thousand of Afghans applied for asylum in industrialized countries. Most of them, around 50 thousand, came to Germany, followed by 36 thousand who went to the Netherlands. The other important destinations were the U.K., Austria, Hungary and Denmark.24 Exact figures about the number of Afghans in Western countries are almost impossible to obtain, one of the reasons being that many of them became nationals in their country of residence.

To be continued…..