![]() The illegal land route most commonly used by people-traffickers is known as the golden crescent, which is also popular for smuggling narcotics. “And when people get that desperate, the borders with Iran and Pakistan will mean nothing.”Īfghans arrive in Pakistan through the border crossing point in Chaman. “I foresee that this will be a humanitarian catastrophe, and when that happens, people will flee,” said Sletten. Organisations on the ground in Afghanistan said they expected a mass exodus to begin in the coming weeks as more and more desperate Afghans took their chance on attempting to get to Europe, usually by paying large sums to people smugglers.Īstrid Sletten, the Afghanistan country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the chaotic crowds at Kabul airport over the past two weeks, with thousands of Afghans – many without passports and papers – clamouring to get on evacuation flights, were an indicator of “the level of desperation to leave”. Since the withdrawal of US troops in May, the UN migration agency has reported a 40% increase in those crossing over into Pakistan, usually the first stage of the journey. ![]() “Our country will not be a gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants,” said the Greek migration minister, Notis Mitarachi. Pakistan has almost completed a wall along its notoriously porous border with Afghanistan, Turkey has built a 93-mile (150km) wall along its border with Iran, and Greece has also just built a border wall. Yet the message from all of Afghanistan’s neighbours and much of Europe, where most hope to reach, has been that Afghan refugees are not welcome.
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