WHERE ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO RUN?

For 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 Afghans have been camping out for over a month now, guarded by Polish security forces, despite calls from the European Court of Human Rights to let them in. As a result, several people have been found dead, either from starvation or freezing. According to the European and international refugee law, Poland is obliged to assist asylum seekers, but the right-wing Polish government continues to ignore its duties as an EU member. In response to the crisis, the government introduced changes to national law, stating that people trying to cross the border “irregularly” will not be allowed asylum. What could be the reasons for Poland’s antipathy and the EU’s ignorance?

Poland is infamously known for its anti-foreign attitudes, as seen in the right-wing Law and Justice party’s xenophobic migration policy, which states that the immigrant must accept polish ideological and religious values as their own and reject those values that would “threaten Poland’s national identity”. The authors of the document’s draft, which has leaked in 2019, argued that Muslims in particular, are problematic due to their inability to integrate with the host society. These attitudes, along with the fear of the “foreign” and, essentially, the “different”, prevail in the conservative, Christian, or less-educated part of the Polish society. According to activists and Polish opposition politicians, declaring ‘a state of emergency’ at the border with Belarus has only made it more difficult for medics and lawyers to reach the Afghan refugees. Journalists have also been banned from the area, so it seems that the Polish government is doing everything they can to limit access to the refugees - including that of independent media, which has been monitoring the situation - while not offering any form of assistance themselves. For the men and women stuck in the political game between two authoritarian governments, acting childishly while trying to shift the blame onto each other, the only hope is NGOs and independent lawyers. Members of the Polish foundation Ocalenie have been using megaphones to communicate with the refugees and preparing in their names applications for international protection - the Afghans had to shout their approval in English, because the lawyers were not allowed anywhere near them. Although help received from independent sources has been crucial for many people seeking immediate medical and legal assistance, it is the Polish government’s decision-making that weighs the most. Unfortunately, the prospect of the Law and Justice party taking responsibility for this humanitarian crisis is overwhelmingly blurry.

It is difficult to predict what comes next. While international disapproval has been expressed, the governments of Belarus and Poland seem to have no intention to give way in the near future. For those who are able to help locally, NGOs such as Caritas Poland have organised collections of water, warm clothes, food, sanitary materials, and blankets, that are being sent directly to the refugees. Amnesty International Poland is conveying a public petition to the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, calling on him to grant asylum, as well as medical and legal assistance to the Afghan refugees, effective immediately.

Europe has seen and witnessed its share of wars, humanitarian crises, and human tragedies.

Since the late 19th century, our ancestors have been migrating beyond their countries of origin, fleeing political instability and persecution, also, because of terrible prejudices towards their race or religion - 60 million people between the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Today, we are reluctant towards inviting immigrants, who come from distant, not rarely unfamiliar lands - we feel that same hesitance that Americans, Canadians, Brazilians, or Argentinians felt towards increasing numbers of refugees seeking stability in their homelands. Europe, especially Eastern, is now acting as if they were not once those who needed help - those who were no less hesitant and scared of entering a country they have never been to, where a language is spoken that they do not know.

Poland, with its undoubtedly tragic history of mass annihilation, keeps its eyes and its heart closed, despite the fact that the 20th century wars and previous annexations, years of being left out of the European map due to military and political conflicts, are such important parts of the public conscience.about what you will write, do you prepare somehow? And I answered: “No, it’s just like in speaking, I do not plan at all.”