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Consequence of conflict in Afghanistan continues....
The peak of the elite migration to the West probably occurred in the first three years, in the wake of the communist coup and Soviet intervention. Afghans that sought refuge in Germany and other Western countries between 1978 and 1989 belonged to a westernised intelligentsia of professors, high functionaries, rich merchants and university students who did not support the Marxists. Often, these were prominent Pashtuns whose families resided in the cities of Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad.25 Many of them had been educated in the schools and universities linked to Western countries and where the language of instruction had been English, French or German; others had received a scholarship to study abroad.
The second wave of refugees to the West took place between 1992 and 1996. After the fall of Najibullah, an interim government was formed, headed by the Tajik Burhannudin Rabbani. The violent war between the communist regime, its Soviet backers and the resistance fighters had devastated many parts of the country, but spared Kabul. Now that their common enemy had been defeated, the different Mujahideen groups, who had never united politically and whose members had become accustomed to an existence as warriors began to fight each other and Kabul became the stage of intense fighting.
The fear of the bombs and rockets, as well as the risk of being accused of having supported the communist and ‘atheist’ enemy prompted those affiliated with the Khalq or Parcham regime or employed as civil servants to seek refuge in the West. Not having taken up arms or having joined a resistance party could be enough reason for civilians to be suspected of communist loyalties. During the same period, many Afghan students at universities in the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries moved to Western countries when the Berlin Wall fell. Many Afghan employees of international non-governmental organisations also managed to escape to Western countries. A third wave of refugees to Western countries arose when the Taleban captured Kabul in 1996. The Taleban, literally ‘religious students’, were originally young Pashtuns from the countryside.
To be continued......