The rapid arrival of the Taliban in Kabul, which caught the major capitals of the world off guard, was quickly accompanied by an outpouring of compassion for Afghans. In particular there has been widespread concern for Afghan women whose daily lives now face the risk of being brutally turned upside down by the implementation of the harsh rules championed by the new masters of the country. The responsibility of Western countries, headed by the United States, for the current disaster after 20 years of military intervention and a chaotic retreat will force them to react. But the precedent of Syria, which reminded us that solidarity is measured in concrete acts of welcome rather than just words, raises fears that this astonishment tinged with sympathy over the plight of Afghans might turn into crocodile tears when it comes to receiving them.
In the hours that followed the return of the Taliban to power on Sunday August 15th, the United Nations reminded the world that “every individual has the right to ask for asylum to escape persecution. It's a fundamental right which applies whatever the mode of transport employed in the search for safety: land, sea or air”. On Monday August 16th the UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the international community to use “all tools at its disposal ... to guarantee that basic human rights will be respected”.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Calls came in from all quarters, including the United States, urging the Taliban to allow Afghan nationals to leave their country without any obstacles.
But to go where? The countries most likely to take them in are not rushing to make offers. Only a few countries, such as Canada, have been detailed in their proposals. The authorities in Ottowa said they have been ready since last week to take in 20,000 vulnerable Afghans, referring to women who have precarious positions, human rights activists, journalists, persecuted religious minorities and members of the LGBT community.
While Kabul Airport became the scene of panic on Monday, with families trying to flee by any means possible, most NATO member countries have for the time being limited themselves to the evacuation of their own citizens. Because of the fear of reprisals some countries have also promised to repatriate Afghans who have worked with them right up to the retreat of international troops, among them interpreters and local staff who worked at embassies and their families.
With European Union foreign ministers due to meet by videoconference this Tuesday, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Tweeted: “Afghanistan stands at a crossroads. Security and wellbeing of its citizens, as well as international security are at play.” According to several diplomats, senior European Commission figures have asked member states to grant visas to people who have worked for the EU in Afghanistan, amounting to 500 to 600 people.
The German chancellor Angela Merkel led the way with taking in Syrian refugees in 2015, and she has now promised to establish an air bridge to evacuate some 2,500 Afghans – and their families - who worked with the German army there, as well as 10,000 people, mainly lawyers and human rights activists and their families, who have expressed a desire to leave.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, addressed the nation on television at 8pm on Monday talked of “an historic turning point taking place in Afghanistan” which required “immediate measures to meet the seriousness of the situation”. He stated: “The absolute priority is to secure the safety of our compatriots, who must leave the country.” The president also made a commitment over the repatriation of “Afghans who have worked for France” including “Afghan civilian personnel who have worked for the French army as well as their families”. Emmanuel Macron said: “Many Afghans, defenders of human rights, artists, journalists, activists, are today threatened because of their commitment. It's to France's honour to welcome them.” However, he did not give any numbers and nor did he set out the criteria by which they would be selected.
In his brief television statement the head of state, who also promised initiatives to fight against terrorism, said France would play its part in an “organised and just international effort” to come to the aid of those “most threatened”. But Macron said that Europe could not “shoulder alone the consequences of the current situation” and also stated that France had to “protect itself against major flows of illegal migration” and he called on EU countries to cooperate “with transit and host countries such as Pakistan, Turkey and Iran”. The president's choice of words were clearly chosen carefully, and the move from “the most threatened” (and thus likely to get protection) to that of “flows of illegal migration” (involving those considered to be less legitimate claimants) reveals the Élysée's position.
Expulsion of Afghans from the EU continued until the last minute
This sudden and shabby waking up to the situation contrasts strongly with the sluggish response of the EU in recent weeks, even though the Taliban had been winning territory for many months, fighting endless battles with anti-government forces there, leading to thousands of civilian casualties.
When on July 11th 2021 the authorities in Kabul called on the 27 member states of the EU to suspend their expulsion of Afghan nationals it was already too late. Sweden and Finland did respond, it is true. But ignoring the appeals of the Afghan authorities, Holland and Germany, plus Austria, Greece and Belgium, signed a joint letter to the Commission in order to convince them that such repatriations should continue. Their argument was that suspending the expulsions would “create a pull factor and encourage Afghan citizens to leave their country to come to the EU”. And with astonishing cynicism they added: “Stopping the returns would send the wrong signal.” That was on August 5th when the Taliban had already retaken a large part of the country. It was only when the Taliban were at the gates of the capital Kabul that Holland and Germany did a U-turn, on Wednesday August 11th, followed by France the next day. Paris then insisted that it had de facto stopped all returns since the start the start of July – a claim that migrant rights groups have disputed.
Austria, meanwhile, behaved even more disgracefully at the start of August by responding to a request from the European Court of Human Rights to postpone the expulsion of an Afghan national by sending extra troops to its borders with Slovenia and Hungary to stop migrants getting through.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
These delays tell us a great deal about the thinking of European leaders: in the circumstances, while they are urgently repatriating their own nationals from Kabul, they feel obliged to stop their policy of forcibly sending Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan, but at the same time they have no intention of welcoming the victims of the Taliban with open arms. Because of the current political context they worry about the influx of migrants that the Afghan tragedy could cause. They are counting on the ongoing negotiations with Turkey to renew the agreement made in 2016 when faced with the huge flow of Syrians fleeing the civil war there. When questioned a few weeks ago about Germany's stance Angela Merkel, who opened the country's gates to Syrians in 2015, responded that “we can't resolve all these problems by taking in everyone”.
Despite the battles raging in Afghanistan, for a long while the EU did not want to hear about the situation there. This put in peril many Afghan nationals who were subsequently expelled. According to a European government source quoted by news agency AFP, no fewer than 1,200 Afghans have been sent back to their country from Europe since the start of 2021, including some who had applied for asylum. Amnesty International and French non-governmental organisation migrant help group CIMADE, who for several years have called for a moratorium on such expulsions, point out that this practice breaches international law, which forbids the return of any person who would be exposed to serious violations of their rights. In support of their statements these NGOs have reported that several Afghans sent back have been killed or seriously wounded on their return.
The growing level of asylum appeals from Afghans has reflected the worsening situation in Afghanistan, where clashes between the the Taliban and the former authorities in Kabul have been going on for a long time. This has led to record levels of asylum applications; according to the EU statistical agency Eurostat, claims for asylum from Afghans made up 10.6% of the applications in 2020 (44,000 out of 416,000), the second largest group behind Syrians (15.2%). In 2020 Afghanistan was the main country of origin of asylum seekers in France, with 8,886 applications.
These Afghans, who often travelled on foot, in car or by lorry from their country, have all risked their lives on the several thousand kilometres that led them across Iran and Turkey. All faced major risks before getting to Europe; freezing nights on snowy mountains, perilous crossings of the Aegean Sea or the danger of suffocating in the backs of lorries crossing the Balkans.
Afghan exiles pursued by the police in France
France's blindness to the worsening situation in Afghanistan can be seen in a recent change in jurisprudence by the Cour Nationale du Droit d’Asile (CNDA). This court handles the appeals by asylum seekers who have had their request turned down by the French body that handles such claims, the Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides (OFPRA). The CNDA was traditionally favourable to applications from Afghan asylum seekers, but then a decision it made in November 2020 – at a time when deadly attacks were increasing in number in Afghanistan – signalled an end to this trend. Up to that point it had been accepted that the violence caused by the armed conflict there was such that unless individual circumstances dictated otherwise, Afghans should be accorded “subsidiary protection” under European law if they were not granted refugee status; in other words, a form of presumption operated that they would be at risk if returned home. Yet the decision by the CNDA in November 2020 stated that the “mindless violence currently taking place in the city of Kabul is not such that there exists serious and proven reasons to think that every civilian who returns there will, simply by their presence in the city, run a real risk of a serious threat to their life or person”. The decision was quickly criticised by migrant and asylum support groups.
France had already tightened its legislation on expulsions several months before when in September 2019 it ratified a European agreement that allowed more Afghans whose document are not in order to be expelled. It involved forcing Kabul to facilitate the granting of the necessary consular passes to allow nationals to be returned to their country of origin.
In recent days, meanwhile, the migrant help group Utopia 56 has highlighted the miserable living conditions and police harassment to which Afghan exiles are subject in the middle of Paris or the port city of Calais in the north, the kind of shameful treatment they have to endure in Greece and Hungary. Tents have been slashed and personal belongings taken away: every evening the forces of law and order do all they can to move them on.
If the solidarity currently being demanded from all quarters has any meaning, then it should start with a welcome that is worthy of the name; after all, the state has a duty to protect and shelter asylum seekers. Given the extreme gravity of the situation in Afghanistan, this welcome should then extend to humanitarian visas for the families of those who have got asylum, the re-examination of applications that have previously been rejected and the implementation of programmes to help Afghans settle here while they await safe and lasting asylum.
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- The original French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter