Why do People Flee Afghanistan?

Our new series, ‘Why Do People Flee?’ will explore some of the reasons why refugees are forced to seek safety in other countries — including the UK.

Manuela joined Upbeat for a work placement earlier this year. She shares some of the realities of life in Afghanistan currently, and explains why so many Afghans in the UK had no choice but to leave their homes.

Afghanistan is one of the top-most represented countries in our community at Upbeat.

Lots of us will remember the harrowing pictures on our screens as the Taliban claimed Kabul two years ago. Today, we take a look back at what happened, and how it continues to impact Afghans, many of whom have been forced to take refuge elsewhere.

Since the emergence of the Taliban 27 years ago, Afghans have gone through many life-threatening challenges and been forced to leave their homeland. Women and girls continue to be most vulnerable, since their rights have been removed.

Background

In 1996, an Islamist militant group called the Taliban emerged as a major force in Afghanistan capturing the capital, Kabul, restricting women’s rights, banning entertainment, and taking public executions.

After the attacks on the 11th of September, the USA, with the goal of undoing Al-Qaeda, invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban regime dissipated and a new government was formed.

A couple of years later, the Taliban regrouped and rebelled against the Afghan government. The USA focused on military operations while supporting the country’s establishment and development projects. Afghan security forces were trained by NATO to uphold and preserve security.

Despite the efforts, the Taliban gained strength and carried out frequent attacks. Aiming to pursue a political settlement, the USA announced the intention to negotiate with the Taliban. A peace agreement was signed in 2020 and in 2021 the USA completed a forced withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Taliban retook control over the country and collapsed the government and security forces.

Challenges

Women's rights have been heavily restricted.

Women’s rights in Afghanistan are a topic of concern all around the world. This includes restrictions on expression, movement, work, access to healthcare and food. In 2022, the Taliban announced that girls are not allowed to attend secondary schools and they are allowed to travel long distances only if accompanied by a man. In addition, women and girls that face domestic violence are not met with justice.

In April 2023, the Taliban banned women and girls from working for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the UN. This decision has had a negative impact on humanitarian organisations operating in Afghanistan, as almost half of NGO staff are women. Some of these organisations have been forced to stop or significantly reduce the humanitarian aid as women were playing a key role in delivering food supplies, health kits and health services to Afghan women, children and the elderly.

Living under restricted freedoms.

Freedom of expression has been also banned. The Taliban has restricted music and media with many journalists scared of being imprisoned. Many government officials and members of the security forces have been killed or kidnapped by the Taliban. This has caused a collapse in the health services that struggle to provide essential medicines.

Children are in vulnerable situations.

Amongst a background of violence, repression and continued food insecurity, children have become increasingly vulnerable. Recent harsh winters and flooding have destroyed crops and rising costs have left parents struggling to feed their children.

Hamza’s Story

Upbeat chatted to Hamza (name changed) when he first arrived in the UK from Afghanistan. He said, “It was difficult for me to make the decision to leave my country because I worked 10 years there. I had a very hard job and we have bad situations.

We still don’t understand why it’s happened. It’s very difficult to believe the day that the Taliban came in and took over. We like our flag, we like our country, but the Taliban came in and took our country and changed our flag, they changed everything.”

You can read Hamza’s story in full here. Why not share it with someone when you have finished, so they can understand more about what our refugee friends are experiencing?