Afghan crisis overwhelms neighbouring states with refugee spillover: Humanitarian group
Nov 08, 2021
Kabul [Afghanistan], November 8 : Amid the tense economic and security situation under the Taliban, countries surrounding Afghanistan are under increasing pressure as Afghans continue to flee their homeland to neighbouring states.
Iran and Pakistan have hosted nearly 90 per cent of all Afghan asylum seekers, who have increasingly escaped from their homeland after the Taliban takeover, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council humanitarian organization, on Monday, said that the economic collapse and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is straining neighbouring nations that already host millions of refugees and migrants
"I'm back in Iran today to meet with a growing number of Afghan refugees, NRC Iran colleagues and our sister organisations. The economic collapse and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is straining neighbouring nations that already host millions of refugees and migrants," Egeland tweeted.
The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August. The international community, from several NGOs, has provided assistance to the population battered by the deepening economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
In an opinion piece for the Virginia-based Politico, Saad Mohseni, chairman and CEO of Afghanistan's largest media group Moby Group said that the crises that are consuming Afghanistan threaten to exacerbate the very problems Washington intervened to deal with in the first place.
"Biden (US President) does not have to formally recognize the Taliban, but neither can he wish away their control of the country," he said.
"Working closely with international partners, the US should ensure aid gets to those who need it most -- even if that means dealing with the people they battled for 20 years."
Warning that Afghanistan's problems never stay within its landlocked borders, Mohseni said that the desperate economic and humanitarian situation could reignite conflict within the country.
