The situation for Afghan refugees – who are stranded in countries on the way to Europe or already have reached in the European countries – have been consistently changing in recent months: while the approach of the EU countries over Afghan refugees have been consistently shifting, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has maintained his defiant position over the Afghan refugees who have recently reached the European countries. President Ghani’s unrelenting stance over the flow of people out of the country and the refugees who have applied for asylum in EU countries have with no doubt helped the U-turn shift of approach of the European countries and their treatment of refugees from Afghanistan. However, there seem to be a blatant inconsistency in the policy of the Afghan government over the refugee crisis and the way to deal with the plight of Afghans who have left the country.
With thousands of Afghan refugees stranded in Turkey and Greece and pressures growing by European countries on those refugees who have reached EU countries, Afghan authorities seek to find ways to work with the EU countries to resolve the crisis. Officials in the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Refugees and Repatriation say the Afghan government is seeking to struck deals with the European countries aimed at seeking a long-term solution to the refugee crisis and, in the meantime, preventing forced deportation of Afghans from those countries. The Minister of Foreign Affairs assured the MPs that the Afghan government is not going to accept back Afghan refugees who are forcefully deported to Afghanistan. He said that the government has always asked the European countries to consider the situation in Afghanistan in dealing with the asylum applications of Afghans and treat them hospitably. According to the officials, Afghanistan is seeking to talk agreements with the EU including Germany, which is the host country to a large portion of the refugees.
This is while the situation for refugees from Afghanistan is deteriorating in the countries on the migrant route as well as in those European countries who have received thousands of new refugees mostly in two recent years. The European countries have been toughening rules for considering asylum request of refugees from Afghanistan with the aim to dissuade Afghans from attempting to leave the country and reach European countries. Afghans were among the first who were barred from entering to Macedonia from Greece about two months ago while before it Afghan refugees were sent back from Germany’s border to the southern European countries. German authorities have been firm in asserting that a large portion of Afghan refugees would not get asylum and will be sent back to Afghanistan.
More recently, a number of Afghan refugees were perhaps the first group deported from Turkey to Afghanistan. This is while human rights and pro-refugee groups claim there are many unregistered and unreported cases of forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Turkey to Afghanistan. With EU governments insisting that Afghanistan is safe enough for refugees to return, many refugees await decisions by the European countries that would see their claims rejected and themselves deported to Afghanistan. Last week, a piece in the Economist depicted the growing mistreatment of Afghan refugees who are either on their way to Europe or those who have already arrived in the EU countries. Amid the uproar over the refugee crisis in Europe and the origin countries, the dire situation of refugees stuck in Turkey and Greece is being ignored and the calls to deal with the refugees struck in these two countries remain unanswered.
There are warnings that the EU countries are particularly ignoring the rights and situation of Afghan refugees which is indicating how the EU asylum system is collapsing and failing to be able to respond to the rights of many of the refugees particularly Afghans. The recent EU-Turkey deal that have come to force in recent days exclude Afghans from having the right to be relocated as part of the scheme to the EU countries while Afghanistan is a war-zone country like Syria. Afghan refugees were among the first group of refugees who were deported to Turkey from the Greek islands.
The Afghan government, however, has done little to resolve the problems the desperate Afghan refugees are facing in the countries on the EU migrant route or in the EU. It has never been able to establish a consistent and consolidated policy that can help reducing pains of Afghan citizens abroad. There have contradicting signals from the Afghan government to the EU countries over asylum request and the fate of the Afghan refugees. The defiant stance of President Ghani along with the inconsistencies in the policy of the government in dealing with the refugees crisis have failed the national unity government to provide support and help to the Afghan refugees particularly those who are stranded in countries like Turkey and Greece and those who may face possible forced deportation after their asylum claims get rejected.
The contradicting signals from Afghan government have even prompted the European countries to further toughen their rules for Afghan refugees seeking asylum. It has further weakened the formal policy of the ministries of Refugees and Repatriation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ease the crisis and help lessening pains of Afghans living in limo of migration. The contradicting signals even have led to discriminatory approaches towards refugees by Turkey, Greece and the rest of the European countries.
In reaction to the recent comments by Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, hundreds of refugees criticized the comments and lamented about being shunned by the government of Afghanistan. However, there is no sign of softening the harsh tone of President Ghani on refugees despite the assurances of the authorities that the Afghan government would not accept forced deportation of Afghans. The Afghan government needs to establish a consolidated and robust refugee policy to respond to the deteriorating situation of Afghan refugees in Europe and on the Europe migrant route.