Afghans from the countryside fleeing to the cities while the rich flee from the country

One district after another has fallen to the Taliban, whose fighters are at the doorstep of several cities. An estimated 270 thousand people have been displaced since January 2021, several thousand have lost their jobs as government offices, businesses and NGOs shut down, a steady stream of people have been entering the cities from conflict zones and there has been a large exodus of elites and affluent people from the country.

There is gloom and rising terror of an uncertain future amidst the threat of another wave of Covid-19, rising poverty and ever-increasing rate of the US dollar to the Afghani, currency of Afghanistan.

After the US-Taliban agreement on February 29, 2020, the Taliban stopped attacking US and NATO troops but shifted their attention to Afghan forces and civilians. The Taliban swiftly took control of more than hundred districts but when they invaded Badghis and Kandahar provinces, they ran into resistance put up by the Afghan army.

While 270 thousand people are estimated to have been forced to leave their homes, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates the number of displaced to rise to 3.5 million by the end of this year.

Besides the civil war, drought, lack of fresh and irrigation water, long hot summers, scorching of natural pastures for livestock etc. have also forced people to leave their villages and move towards the cities, where there has been a spurt in crime, armed robbery and incidence of begging by children and the elderly.

Migration to other countries slowed down because of Covid restrictions in these countries. In fact, it is also estimated that 573,000 Afghans have been forced to return to Afghanistan following loss of livelihood due to lockdowns and the pandemic in these countries.

As many as 59% of Afghan families have had their income fall sharply. War, destruction of public property by the Taliban, closing of local offices, displacement of people, lockdown of schools, restaurants, wedding halls and universities have already created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and food insecurity.

President Biden had promised to evacuate thousands of Afghans who had worked with the US military in Afghanistan in different capacities. Until now, 18,000 Afghans have indicated their interest for special visa and half of them have already furnished required documents while documents of 9000 more are being processed, say officials.

This initiative was created by the US Congress in 2006 for Afghans and Iraqis who worked with US troops in these two countries. Along with the US, UK, Germany and other countries which had Afghan translators/ interpreters also decided to withdraw them. The withdrawal of thousands of skilled, knowledgeable, educated, and expert hands has created a vacuum of sufficiently experienced workforce at every level.

Rich Afghans and businessmen began leaving in 2014 when the US first declared its intention to pull out. Since then, the private sector started shrinking. Uzbekistan stopped providing visa facilities. India has closed its Consulate at Kandahar in view of the threat perception and growing insecurity.

Thousands of innocent Afghans have paid the price for politicians’ folly from the communist coup to civil war among different groups of Mujahidin to the rise of the Taliban and finally the invasion by US and NATO forces.

The spectre of shortages and high prices of essential goods ahead of Eid Al-Adha have added to the prevailing gloom. Having learnt lessons from the past, people are busy stocking what they can. Those who can, are leaving

( Nazir Ahmad Razzaqi teaches in Afghanistan University)