WHERE ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO RUN? Afghan refugees refused entrance to Poland at the border with Belarus as they flee the Taliban regime.
Emilia Juchno
F
or the past 20 years, Afghanistan has been haunted by a war between the Taliban - the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ (IEA), an Islamist religious, political and military organisation based in Afghanistan - and the Afghan government along with the US-led coalition of NATO member states. Invasion of Afghanistan by the US had the aim of abolishing the rule of the oppressive Taliban and installing a democratic government there. However, as the world has recently bared witness to, they have failed to do so and the last American troops withdrew from Afghanistan on the 30th of August, 2021. That war, similarly to relatively recent wars of the mid-20th century, was not just a series of battles between armies of well-equipped soldiers. It has become as much a humanitarian crisis as it was a political one, claiming over 46.000 lives of Afghan civilians, a number which is most likely underestimated. I referred to the war as ‘haunting’, because, from the perspective of the Afghan people, it was not only about being a witness to it. They have experienced what the word ‘war’ holds deep within itself on a full scale, having fallen victims to famine, water crises, and other indirect consequences of it. The US
explained that they were left with no choice but to abandon the Afghans in order to safely bring home their own soldiers, and the judgement of that decision requires extensive analysis. What is certain, however, is that the Taliban has regained its power over the people and is introducing an authoritative regime as we speak, threatening, in particular, the progress achieved in women’s rights over the last twenty years.
“I don’t know is my answer. I don’t know where you can go. I don’t think America will help anymore. No, I don’t think they will give you or your brother or my former driver from 11 years ago a visa.” - Lynsey Addario for The Atlantic
As the Afghan people woke up to a new reality just this August, the burden lies on Europe to make the right decision and help prevent a further humanitarian crisis. We
have the power to do so, seeing as it is our door the Afghan refugees have come knocking at. They were invited, according to the European Union, by the authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, who is said to try to destabilise the EU and apparently promises the incoming refugees that directly beyond the border they will find Germany and enter Western Europe where they will be helped. And that is how the Afghans have fallen victim to “the political game between countries”, as said by Aleksandra Fertlińska from Amnesty International Poland. The promises of help are, undoubtedly, false and Poland, Belarus’s real neighbour, has no intention of allowing the refugees in, leaving them with no choice but to stay caught up between the two countries - because while trying to get back, the Afghan men and women are met with violence from armed Belarusian soldiers. Right there, at the border between Belarus and Poland, death takes its toll on those who face freezing temperatures, hunger, and lack of access to clean, safe drinking water. Medics, lawyers and human rights campaigners found it difficult to enter the “area under a state of emergency”, where thirty two Af-
