Tens of thousands of people fleeing from Afghanistan are moving towards Turkey via Iran. With Pakistan closing its borders, the Afghan refugees have turned to Iran as an escape route and to Turkey.
Thousands of soldiers have been stationed in the border regions of Turkey’s southeastern province of Van (Wan), where the national and international press has also moved itself to. The chaos and uncertainty in Afghanistan is expected to be reflected in Turkey, MA reports.
“No one expected the Taliban to take control so rapidly. The biggest reason why there is such chaos in Kabul now is that no one had prediced that the Taliban could enter Kabul. We will understand what happened in 20 days, maybe over 20 years. What happened in those 20 days, who were involved and how things could have reached to this level? These are crucial questions, awaiting an answer,” Afghan journalist Ahmed Kazimi told MA.
Kazimi stated that the unprecendented advance of the Taliban came as a shock to tens of thousands of Afghans, especially women.
“Women have been sent home from the universities. For the young girls, wearing a burka and a separate education from boys is planned and will be imposed. Apparently, women are fearful and they have been terrorised.”
Kazimi said the statements of the Taliban regarding their ‘changed’ perspectives of women are insincere and unconvincing.
“They will be no different than the former Taliban. The Taliban is the same Taliban. The only difference now is that they still do not raid homes, killing people, yet. They want to draw a different image and not want a great reaction from the international public.”
Pointing to the manner in which US President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw, Kazimi said: “The USA was almost putting pressure on the Afghan government for the Taliban to win. The intention of the US is obvious.”
Kazimi believes the positions of some international powers is easy to predict, whilst it is impossible to draw conclusions from some other powers: “Russia already has good relations with the Taliban; they had wanted the US to withdraw and now they are happy. China does not care too much about what happens here, it only cares for its trading profits not to be touched. Pakistan had already been a supporter of the Taliban. But to draw certain conclusions on the attitude of certain international powers is not possible now.”
Kazimi stated that it is an ‘unknown’ regarding what kind of a role Turkey will play in this process and in which matters they would have talks with the Taliban. “Since the Taliban cannot move along together with Iran and Pakistan, they would have talks with the Erdoğan government,” he said.
Kazimi stated that Iran has not closed its borders yet and Iran accepts Afghan migrants with a visa.
“The massive migration will be shaped by how the Taliban treats the people. All people who have no future in Afghanistan will flee, as they are doing now. Most of them are heading towards Turkey.”
Kazimi stated that Afghan people now faced the darkest uncertainty, their history is full of occupation and political turmoil. “The situation in Afghanistan reveals that international powers and the whole world have made Afghans a victim of their policies,” he said.
“20 years ago, we all believed that democracy, financial freedoms and women’s rights would have been strengthened in Afghanistan. No one expected the Taliban take control after 20 years. Even some of the Taliban members I talked to were surprised.”
